Introduction: Several developmental anomalies have been frequently seen to occur in the oral cavity, including the tongue that causes burning sensation, pain and dysfunction. Geographic tongue, Fissure tongue and Ankyloglossia are in this category. The congenital and environmental effects of these anomalies have been pointed out in a few investigations. The frequency of these anomalies has been surveyed in different communities using different methods. Objective: The purposed of this study that was conducted in 2003, was to determine the frequency of different morphological variations of the tongue in a population of school children aged 7 – 12 years in Lahidjan, Iran. Materials and Methods: A total 1120 subjects (560 boys and 560 girls) that represented the study population, were studied in a multistage cluster sampling. Each school was considered as a cluster of 70 subjects that were selected by random selection in view of the total sample size. Results: The results indicated a frequency of 13.4% for geographic tongue, 11% for Fissure tongue, 6.7% for Ankyloglossia also there was a significantly higher frequency of Fissure tongue (P = 0.002), Geographic tongue (P = 0.007) and Ankyloglossia (P= 0.002) in boys than girls. Conclusion: The present study indicates a higher frequency of tongue abnormalities than previous studies, however further investigations are required to indicate if hereditary and congenital factors play a vital role or if the environmental factors in this region vary with those in other regions.

Keywords: Glossitis, Benign Migratory

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