Prevalence of Geographic Tongue in Chilean Children between 7 and 10 Years of Age

M. Marshall Baburizza; M. Feldstedt González; J. Fernández Moraga; A. Fernández Moraga & A. Esguep Sarah

Summary

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of geographic tongue and evaluate its association with emotional stress, chronic irritation, fissured tongue and type of educational establishment, in children between 7 and 10 years of age, in the city of Viña del Mar, Chile. From a total of 27,234 students attending 2nd through 5th grade, we examined 436 children. A descriptive study of students was carried out from three different educational institutions: private, private with state funding and public schools. The variables studied were age, sex and the educational establishment the children attended. Additionally in the students with geographic tongue and in 23 students without this diagnosis, we evaluated the presence of fissured tongue, tongue irritation and chronic emotional stress. Prevalence was determined by calculating ratio, discrete variables were analyzed using Pearson Chi-square test or Fisher, and in order to determine association measures with geographic tongue, binary logistic regression was considered significant at p <0.05. Of the 436 children, 23 had geographic tongue, showing a prevalence of 5.28% with a 95% CI 3.37% to 7.81%. No differences regarding sex, age and type of educational establishment were found. No factors associated with geographic tongue were determined. The prevalence of the LG is similar to other studies covering the same age ranges. Furthermore, and as in other works, our study did not to show that emotional stress, chronic irritation, fissured tongue and the type of educational establishment constituted factors associated with the presence of geographic tongue.

KEY WORDS: benign migratory glossitis, geographic tongue, risk factors, children.

How to cite this article

MARSHALL, B. M.; FELDSTEDT, G. M.; FERNÁNDEZ, M. J.; FERNÁNDEZ, M. A. & ESGUEP, S. A. Prevalence of geographic tongue in Chilean children between 7 and 10 years of age. Int. J. Odontostomat., 8(2):235-240, 2014.