Prevalence of oral mucosal lesions among smokeless tobacco usage: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Tobacco use is one of the most prevalent forms of habit and associated with development of potential malignant disorders. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence and distribution of oral mucosal lesions (OMLs) among smokeless tobacco users. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a hospital-based cross-sectional study. All the patients with the history of smokeless tobacco habit were included in the study. The patients were interviewed using the preformed questionnaire, including the patient's demographic details, the type of habit, duration, frequency, and the associated oral mucosal pathology. Further, patients were clinically examined and recorded on tobacco-related oral lesions. RESULTS: Prevalence of OML was 54.18%, and 91.50% being among male and with higher frequency at the age of second and fourth decade. The prevalence of oral submucous fibrosis, leukoplakia, carcinoma, lichen planus, and erythroplakia was 26.95, 10.35, 9.94, 5.5, and 0.66%, respectively. Smokeless tobacco habit was prevailing among males (98.79%) compared to females (9.37%). Frequency of habit-associated OML was statistically significant with odds ratio 0.24. CONCLUSION: The study proves a definite association between smokeless tobacco habit and OML. The data necessitate to correlate and follow up the individuals with smokeless form of tobacco habits to establish the definite correlation between the habit and oral mucosal lesions.

Analysis of salivary secretor status in patients with oral submucous fibrosis: a case-control study.

AIM: Many individuals have various tobacco-related habits, yet only some develop clinical manifestation of lesions. This raises the question of whether there any inherent or host risk factors involved in the pathogenesis which need to be further investigated. The aim of the present study was to analyze the ABO antigen, secretor status, and blood groups of patients. METHODS: The study consisted of 99 participants, with 33 patients allocated to three groups: (a) patients with a tobacco-related habit and oral submucous fibrosis (OSF); (b) patients with a tobacco-related habit, but no lesions; and (c) healthy controls. A total of 1 mL unstimulated saliva was collected in a sterile test tube, and the Wiener agglutination test was performed to analyze the ABO antigen in all three groups. RESULTS: All of the OSF patients were non-secretors, whereas 84.8% were non-secretors in the group of individuals with habits as compared to 15.2% in the healthy group. A statistically-significant difference was observed between the OSF and healthy groups. The patients in the OSF group were predominantly blood-group A, followed by groups O, B, and AB. CONCLUSION: There is a correlation between salivary secretor status and the development of OSF. Thus, non-secretors are at greater risk of and more prone to the development of oral lesions. Blood-groups A and O predominate over the B and AB blood groups.