Introduction Bearing in mind that the diagnosis of oral lesions, particularly those induced by HPV, may influence therapeutic method choice, the goal of this study was to describe the clinical and histological characteristics of these lesions in the oral cavity.

Methods A sectional laboratory research based on the reports obtained from the oral pathology laboratory of a private university of Rio de Janeiro, between 1998 to 2015 was held, with the objective of assessing the profile of 104 individuals diagnosed with HPV-induced oral lesions.

Results The lesions found were oral squamous papilloma (83%), verruca vulgaris (11,3%) and condyloma acuminata (5,6%). The sites more commonly involved were the tongue (37 lesions, 33,9%), the palate (21 lesions, 19,8%) and lip mucosa (19 lesions, 17,9%). The oral squamous papilloma was diagnosed in 87 patients, with average age of 40.3 years, race-colour white (73%), being the tongue (39,8%) and the palate (22,7%) the more commonly described sites, with asymptomatic lesions of the type exophytic (15,9%) and pedunculated (13.6%) and had whitish colour, with an average size of about 0.55 cm in diameter. As for the 12 verruca vulgaris diagnosed, the individuals had an average age of 21.3 years, most of them affecting lip mucosa region with 7 lesions (to 58.3%). The condyloma acuminata lesions were found in only 5 individuals, with ages ranging from 25 to 51 years of age, with an average of 32.8 years. The site of greatest occurrence was the lip mucous membrane with 3 lesions (50%).

Conclusion In this study, it was possible to observe that women had more lesions in the oral cavity, being the tongue the most common site, and the oral squamous papilloma the most diagnosed lesion. The description of the histological and molecular aspects of these injuries becomes necessary so that there is an effective contribution to the knowledge of factors that may be associated with the development of these lesions in the oral cavity in the era of the quadrivalent/nonavalent vaccine.