Prevalence of geographic and plicated tongue in 6090 Iraqi schoolchildren.

The prevalence of geographic and plicated tongue among 6090 Iraqi schoolchildren was determined according to age and sex. Geographic tongue was observed in 4.3% of the population and plicated tongue in 2.6%. Significant sex difference was found only in children with plicated tongue. The prevalence rates varied irregularly with age in both sexes for both tongue anomalies and although significant differences were found between the ages, a steady increase or decrease was not clear, which could be due to the short span of age used in this investigation. The only significant association found was between geographic and plicated tongue in males, which may indicate a genetic linkage between the two conditions.