Introduction:

Potentially malignant whitish oral lesions are a recognizable group of mucosal diseases that precede the appearance of invasive cancers of the oral cavity.

Objective:

To determine the potential malignant transformation of whitish lesions in the oral cavity.

Methods:

An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried, from January 2016 to January 2020, of all patients who attended the Maxillofacial Surgery service with whitish oral lesions. The variables used were: age, sex, risk factors, time of evolution, and site of the lesion, histological diagnosis and potential for malignant transformation. To explore the association between categorical variables, the Chi square distribution was used.

Results:

Lesions with the potential for malignant transformation were found in 24 % of those over 50 years of age, in 24,3 % of men and in 40 % of patients with actinic cheilitis. 83,3% were leukoplakia, and among them 20 % with the potential for malignant transformation.

Conclusions:

Leukoplakia was the most common histological diagnosis. Lesions with the potential for malignant transformation increased with age, were greater in men and in actinic cheilitis patients. The anatomical sites in which they appeared most were on the soft palate and upper lip and among the risk factors with the greatest association was sun exposure.

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