Prevalencia de lesiones orales de tejidos blandos en músicos intérpretes de instrumentos de viento en la ciudad de Bucaramanga y su área metropolitana

Abstract

Background: musicians are at risk as any other professional suffering from occupational diseases. There are several soft tissue oral lesions typical of interpreting a particular instrument, among which are the fissures in lips and lesions in the gingiva proper to interpreting the clarinet, saxophone, bassoon, and oboe; the transverse flute producing lesions in the lower lip, the trumpet and trombone causing fissured cheilitis and finally, the herpes proper to the interpretation of bassoon, oboe, trumpet and trombone. Objective: to determine the prevalence of soft tissue oral lesions in wind instruments musicians from Bucaramanga and its metropolitan area. Methods: a prevalence descriptive study was done with forty wind instruments musicians who belonged to the School of Arts and Music of the Universidad Industrial de Santander, the Symphony Orchestra of the Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga and the Band of Musicians Association of Piedecuesta. Each participant completed a questionnaire with sociodemographic data and a clinical examination of the soft tissues of the oral cavity by a specialist in oral pathology was carried out. Frequencies, proportions and measures of central tendency were calculated according to the nature of the variables. Exact Fisher's test or Chi2 was applied for qualitative variables and for quantitative ones, U. of Mann Whitney. A value of p <0.05 was considered statistically significant. All participants signed an informed consent. Results: thirty (75.0%) people were men. The average age was 25.4 ± 11.6 years, a median of 21 and a range between 18 and 67 years. The prevalence of soft tissue oral lesions was 50%. No statistically significant difference was found between the number of practice hours per week and the presence of lesions (p = 0.0825), nor between the number of years of experience and the presence of lesions (p = 0.2835). Fourteen (35%) presented lesions in the lower lip, four (10%) in the right yugal mucosa and five (12.5%) in the left yugal mucosa. Conclusions: the prevalence of soft tissue oral lesions was 50% and the most frequent lesions were located in the mucosa of the lower lip, possibly due to the trauma caused by the wind instrument if there has not been a good education for its interpretation.