Prevalence of Leukoplakia among Patients Visiting a Private Dental Hospital- An Institutional Study

Background: The oral ‌mucous‌ ‌membrane‌ ‌is‌ ‌an‌ ‌integral‌ ‌part‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌oral‌ ‌cavity‌ and oral‌ ‌premalignancy‌ plays an ‌intermediate‌ ‌stage. Oral‌ ‌leukoplakia‌ ‌otherwise‌ ‌called‌ ‌smoker’s‌ ‌keratosis‌ ‌is‌ ‌a‌ ‌potential‌ ‌premalignant‌ ‌disorder‌ and if not diagnosed early has a risk of causing oral morbidity and cancer. It ‌is‌ ‌a‌ ‌non-scrapable‌ ‌white‌ ‌patch‌ ‌or‌ ‌plaque‌ ‌which‌ ‌might‌ ‌be‌ ‌homogeneous‌ ‌or‌ ‌nonhomogeneous‌ ‌and‌ ‌is‌ ‌strongly‌ ‌associated‌ ‌with‌ ‌smoking, tobacco, alcohol‌ ‌consumption,‌‌ chronic‌ ‌irritation,‌‌ infections‌, and‌ ‌ultraviolet‌ ‌exposure‌. The etiology is idiopathic. The main aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of leukoplakia in patients reporting to a university dental hospital.

Methodology: The present study was a retrospective observational study wherein 239 leukoplakia cases were reported to a private dental hospital located in Chennai from June 2020 to April 2021. Data was collected from DIAS and was tabulated in Excel. Data analysis was done in SPSS software Version 20.0. Descriptive statistics and the relation between variables were determined using the chi-square test where done. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The results of this study reveal that oral premalignant leukoplakia has a strong male predilection (95.4%) and the age group of 50-60 years (29.71%) was the most commonly affected when compared to the other age groups. This study further results that homogenous type (75.5%) of oral leukoplakia was commonly prevalent in the right buccal mucosa (29.29%) followed by the left buccal mucosa (23.43%) of the oral cavity associated with the history of excess smoking (38.08%). Pearson chi-square test shows p-value is 0.00, (p-value < 0.05).Hence, it is statistically significant. When association was done between the site of the lesion in the oral cavity by the number of participants, 28.03% of the male participants were presented with the lesion on the right buccal mucosa. Pearson chi-square test shows p-value is 0.99, (p-value > 0.05). Hence, it is statistically not significant.

Conclusion: The results of this study reveal that oral premalignant leukoplakia has a strong male predilection and the age group of 50-60 years was most commonly affected when compared to the other age groups.This study further results that homogenous type of oral leukoplakia was commonly prevalent in the right buccal mucosa followed by the left buccal mucosa of the oral cavity associated with the history of excess smoking.