Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of oral and maxillofacial lesions among children from representative regions of Brazil. A retrospective descriptive study was conducted. Biopsy records comprising the period from 2000 to 2015 were obtained from the archives of three Brazilian oral pathology referral centers. A total of 32,506 biopsy specimens were analyzed, and specimens from 1,706 children aged 0–12 years were selected. Gender, age, anatomical location and histopathological diagnosis were evaluated. Descriptive statistics was carried out. Likelihood ratio tests were used to evaluate the association between the categorical variables. The level of significance was set at 0.05. The post-hoc test was used to identify the subgroups that significantly differed from one another, and the Bonferroni correction was applied. A total of 1,706 oral and maxillofacial lesions were diagnosed in pediatric patients, including 51.9% girls. Oral mucocele was the most prevalent reactive/inflammatory lesion (64%). The most commonly affected sites were the lips (34.5%) and mandible (19.9%). A significant association was observed between age and the group of lesions of the oral cavity (p < 0.001), and between age and anatomical location (p < 0.001). Pediatric oral and maxillofacial lesions were frequent and showed wide diversity, with the prevalence of mucocele. Knowledge of oral lesions is important for pediatric dentists worldwide, since it provides accurate data for the diagnosis and oral health of children.