Erythroplakia of the oral cavity.

Erythroplakia of the oral cavity is a specific disease entity which must be differentiated from other specific or nonspecific inflammatory oral lesions, although this can only be done in most cases by biopsy. A series of 58 cases of oral erythroplakia has been retrieved from 65,354 consecutively accessioned biopsy-surgical specimens. The disease was found to have no apparent sex predilection (31 males and 27 females) and was most frequently seen during the 6th and 7th decades. The most common site of occurrence in females was the mandibular alveolar mucosa-mandibular gingiva-mandibular sulcus, whereas this was the least common site in males. The floor of the mouth was the most common site in males, followed by the retromolar area in both males and females. The histologic findings emphasized the serious nature of the disease, since 91% of the specimens were either invasive carcinoma, carcinoma in situ, or severe epithelial dysplasia.