title: A comparison between histologic and clinical diagnoses of oral lesions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The dentist has a fundamental role in the early diagnosis of lesions of the oral cavity. The aim of this study was to establish the rate of erroneous clinical diagnoses and whether a clinical diagnosis is enough. The study was conducted to ascertain the overall accuracy of clinical diagnoses established by dentists.
  
  
  METHODS
  The biopsy reports of 1,566 samples taken from 1,406 patients and examined at the Dental Outpatients Department of the University of Padua from 1 January 2006 to 30 June 2012 were analyzed in order to compare the presumptive clinical diagnosis with the fi nal diagnosis based on histology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, the dentists' clinical diagnoses were erroneous in 31.5% of cases. These diagnostic errors pertained to 23.8% of the benign neoplasms, 78.9% of the malignant neoplasms, and 17% of precancerous lesions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present report should not be interpreted as a criticism of the clinicians making diagnostic errors but rather a confirmation of the policy to submit excised tissues for histologic examination.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bacci
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Donolato
authors.forename: Edoardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stellini
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berengo
authors.forename: Marialuisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Valente
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003815:Dentists; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies