Nonsurgical treatment of oral cavity leukoplakia

Abstract

Treatment of the oral cavity leukoplakia, a potentially malignant lesion, is presently not evidenced based. Leukoplakia is a premalignant lesion of the oral cavity which has increased risk for oral cancer. If the leukoplakia is treated in its incipient stage, the chance of occurrence of the oral cancer can be reduced. Although there are several treatment options for leukoplakia, there is no specific and appropriate one for minimizing the malignant transformation of the leukoplakia. Tobacco and prolonged use of alcohol can cause significant risk factors toward origin of the oral cavity leukoplakia. Surgical excision, cryotherapy, and laser excision are the useful modes of the treatment for oral leukoplakia, but the minimizing the risk of the malignant transformation is still doubtful. However, the medical treatment for oral cavity leukoplakia is often attractive particularly to prevent the transformation of the leukoplakia into malignancy. The medical treatment is based on chemoprevention such as Vitamin A and retinoid, carotenoids, tea extract, bleomycin, and Vitamin C have been used although with inconclusive output. The nonsurgical treatment overweighs because of its non-invasiveness, good cosmetic result, well tolerated by the patient without cumulative toxicity and used when the surgery is avoided or contraindicated. In this review article, we will discuss different nonsurgical treatment options for oral cavity leukoplakia.