Prevalence and distribution of oral mucosal lesions associated with tobacco use in patients visiting a dental school in Ajman

Background: Several studies have linked the habit of smoking and chewing smokeless tobacco to a variety of oral mucosal lesions that are more likely to develop oral cancer. The purpose of the current study is to assess the prevalence and distribution of various oral lesions accompanied by the use of tobacco or betel nut consumption Materials and methods: The medical records of patients visiting the department of oral medicine in the college of dentistry of Ajman University were retrospectively analysed between January 2014 and October 2014. Inclusion criteria were currently smoking patients who are smoking, chewing or using smokeless tobacco for a minimum of 12 months and had no systemic disease. From 250 medical records retrieved between January 2014 and October 2014, fifty-four files were selected based on the suggested inclusion criteria. All the obtained data were analysed statistically by using a Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20. Results: During the intraoral examination, different oral lesions were noted. The most common oral lesion was oral sub mucous fibrosis affecting 12.2% of the subjects, followed by smoker’s palate (10.8%), leukoedema (9.5%) and leukoplakia (8.1), smoker's melanosis, lichenoid reaction (4.1 %) and hairy tongue (1.4 %). The gender disruption of the oral mucosal lesions in the revised records showed a greater ratio of the oral lesions among male patients (73%) versus female patients (27 %). The oral lesions were more common among patients older than 50 years (37.8%) than those aged between 20 to 35 years (32.4).However, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of oral mucosal lesions based on gender and age distribution. The most common affected site by the intraoral lesion was the buccal mucosa (40.5 %) followed by dorsum of the tongue (27%), palate (10.8%), and gingival area (9.5%). Conclusion: The results of the current study indicated the high prevalence of premalignant oral lesions like leukoplakia, smoker’s palate and oral sub mucous fibrosis among tobacco users and acknowledge the importance of having regular screening preventive protocols to increase the community awareness regarding the adverse effects of smoking.