Vallabh Chawla and Deepa Das
Dr. G D Pol Foundation's, YMT Dental College, India
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Oral Health Dent Manag
Approximately 50% of the individuals do not have a routine dental check-up and are unaware of their oral health condition. Most oral cancers appear to arise in apparently normal mucosa, but often preceded by premalignant lesions like Leukoplakia (speckled/verrucous), erythroplakia and premalignant conditions like oral submucous fibrosis due to the use of tobacco in both smoking and smokeless form. Leukoplakia is a non-scrapable potentially malignant disorder that cannot be characterized clinically or pathologically as any other disease. Oral Submucous fibrosis (OSMF or OSF) is a chronic, complex, premalignant (1% transformation risk) condition of the oral cavity, characterized by juxta-inflammatory reaction and progressive fibrosis of the submucosal tissues where he jaws become rigid to the point that the person is unable to open the mouth. Since most of these pre-malignant lesions/conditions are symptomless, patients are ignorant about their presence in the oral cavity. Delay in detection, diagnosis and treatment of such lesions can lead to malignant transformation and later show a propensity to become cancerous as time progresses. Management includes cessation of habit, chemo-preventive medications, surgical excision, laser ablation, and cryotherapy. This paper will highlight interesting cases on oral cancer screening, treatment of leukoplakia using cryotherapy and diode laser ablation therapy and treatment of oral submucous fibrosis using chemo-preventive medications and intra-lesional injections on patients reporting to the institute with such pre-cancerous lesions and conditions. Patients were first advised to quit the habit followed by treatment and timely follow ups.
Vallabh Chawla is a Post-graduate student, Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Dr. G D Pol Foundation’s Yerala Medical Trust Dental College and Hospital, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, India.
Email: vallabh.chawla@gmail.com