Year : 2015

Volume : Volume 5

Issue : Issue 2

Address for correspondence :
Dr. Tanoj Kumar
tanojkumar@gmail.com

Abstract

Background:  Oral cancer is often preceded by specific oral lesion and oral condition that are called pre-cancer. The most common pre-cancerous lesion is leukoplakia. Leukoplakia is the most prevalent precancerous lesion of the oral mucosa. The prevalence of leukoplakia ranges from 0.2 to 4.9 %. Leukoplakia simple means “White Patch” and it has been used in general sense to describe any white lesion in the mouth. The term leukoplakia was coined by a Hungarian dermatologist Schiwimmer in 1877.  Materials and Method: Oral examinations were done under sufficient light using two mouth mirrors. The diagnosis of leukoplakia was based on the clinical ground. A total number of 18,600 patients were screened and 60 patients of oral leukoplakia were selected for this study. Specially prepared case sheet were issued for recording the clinical data of these patients. Along with detailed medical and dental history all the patients were interviewed regarding age, occupation, socioeconomic status, oral habits and subjective and objective feature etc. To be very accurate and factual on oral habit no attendant were allowed to  help the patient in eliciting answer to our question which has been prepared very carefully. Result: Out of 60 Leukoplakia patient 85% were male and 15% were female. Male/Female ratio was 5.66 1. The peak incidence of leukoplakia occurred between 3rd. and 4th decade of life in both sexes. In Religion wise distribution of cases Hindus outnumbered the Muslims being 87% of the cases. In distribution of cases according to socio-economic condition Incidence of Leukoplakia is higher (50.0%) in the middle income group. Distribution of cases according to dietary habit Leukoplakia, patient were predominated by non-vegetarian 95.0%. Conclusion: The chief complain in oral Leukoplakia is burning sensation but more than 40% lesion are asymptomatic. Buccal mucosa and commissural region are favored sites for the development of Oral leukoplakia. Hyperkeratinization one Acanthosis was the commonest histological observation in oral Leukoplakia. Leukoplakia is a premalignant disease. Keywords: leukoplakia, epithelial dysplasia, tobacco.