Oral leukoplakia: A study about prevalence of it

Statement of the Problem: Early diagnosis of precancerous lesions helps patients recover and greatly reduces treatment costs. Identifying risk groups helps general dentists take care of these patients and examine them thoroughly. This study contributes to identifying the most risk groups of oral leukoplakia as one of the pre-cancerous lesions. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: This is a clinical epidemiological study. Oral clinical examination of 500 patients was conducted at the Department of Oral Medicine at the Faculty of Dentistry at Tishreen University in 2016 and 2017. Information was collected on the patient's systemic diseases, oral habits, smoking rate and alcohol drinking. The number of males was 348 and females 152. The number of who drink alcohol was 117 and non-alcoholic 383. The number of smokers was 279 and nonsmokers 221. The average age of the sample was 52 years. Oral leukoplakia was diagnosed according to WHO standards. Conclusion & Significance: We found that the percentage of leukoplakia in the sample was 2.8%. There was a statistically significant correlation between leukoplakia and smoking, drinking alcohol, Increase in age and sex, and no relation was found with general diseases. Increased incidence and associated risk factors (smoking, drinking alcohol, increasing age and sex) require dentists to carefully examine Oral mucosa for early detection of precancerous changes and therefore early treatment.

Author(s): Waddah Shash

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