Incidence of potentially malignant oral disorders in patients attending a private dental hospital

Abstract

Potentially malignant disorders are a heterogeneous group of lesions associated with the risk of malignant transformation to invasive cancer. Oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) are considered as the early tissue changes that happen due to various habits such as smoking tobacco, chewing tobacco or stress. The rate of oral potentially malignant disorder transformation to malignancy is 2%–3%. The present study is a retrospective study in which 1000 patient records were reviewed and details such as gender, age, presence or absence of PMD, type of PMD were collected. Details were tabulated in excel, and results were obtained using SPSS. Chi-square analysis was performed to find out the association between different variables. Out of 1000 patients, 1.3% of patients had potentially malignant disorders out of which 77% were male, 23% were female. OSMF was present more in males (53.85%) which is followed by leukoplakia in males (23.08%). Females showed a predilection for lichen planus. The current study concluded the incidence of PMD as 13 per 1000 per year, and OSMF was found to be highest among the various potentially malignant disorders in the study population. This can be attributed to areca nut chewing habits which are high in Southeast Asia. More awareness programmes on the detrimental effects of tobacco & areca nut are necessary for effective prevention of potentially malignant disorder.