Clinical examination of the oral and peri-oral regions of a cohort of 550 Vietnamese living in a refugee camp in Hong Kong was conducted. They comprised 216 (39 per cent) males and 334 (61 per cent) females and their age ranged from 2 to 60 years. A positive clinical finding was observed in 14 per cent, 35 males and 43 females. The most common condition observed was periapical infection (36 per cent), either with an abscess or a sinus. Other lesions noted include mucocele (10 per cent), traumatic ulcers (9 per cent), tori, either palatal (6 per cent) or mandibular (3 per cent), lymph node enlargement (7 per cent), pulp polyp (6 per cent), angular cheilitis (4 per cent), papillomas (3 per cent), cellulitis (3 per cent) and herpes lesions (2 per cent), 7 out of 9 (78 per cent) mucoceles were found in females. No malignant lesions were noted.