Abstract
Background: Acute leukemia is amalignant, rapidly progressive disease of the bonemarrow and blood thatmost commonly occurs
in children. Abnormalities of blood caused by leukemia and also accumulation of leukemic cells in different parts of the oral cavity
cause a wide spectrum of oral manifestations.
Objectives: The current study aimed to estimate the incidence of leukemia among children in Tehran and evaluate oral manifestations
of the disease as potential diagnostic markers.
Patients and Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, medical records of children younger than 12 years referred to
Mofid hospital, Ali-Asghar hospital and Children’s medical center from 1997to 2011 were retrieved from the hospital archives and
evaluated. Records of 100 patients with leukemia were randomly selected for evaluation. The obtained data were transferred to the
questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 11.5 and Chi-square test.
Results: Of the 3,789 children younger than 12 years referred to the hematology department of Tehran pediatric hospitals from
1997 to 2001, 1,372 had acute leukemia, put of which 94% had acute lymphoblastic leukemia and 5% had acute myeloid leukemia.
Boys aged 5 - 10 years made up 69% of the acute leukemia cases. The most common oral manifestation was gingival bleeding and
petechiae. The most important disease other than leukemia was anemia in the patients.
Conclusions: The present study highlights the role of dentists to detect oral manifestations of leukemia and their possible role in
early diagnosis of patients with the disease.