Clinical and histopathological presentation of oral leukoplakia among different forms of tobacco users: A comparative study

Aim: To compare the clinical and histopathological presentation of oral leukoplakia among different forms of tobacco users. Material and Methods: This study was carried out among 300 patients with oral leukoplakia, analyzing the corresponding clinical factors and histopathological findings, different forms of tobacco usage and assessing associations between the different clinical presentations and epithelial dysplasia. Results: Out of a total of 300 subjects, most (87.33%) of the subjects were males, among 138 tobacco chewers, maximum (60.87%) were having homogenous leukoplakia, among 85 tobacco smokers, maximum (61.18%) were seen with homogenous leukoplakia and among 77 subjects having mixed habit, maximum of 51.95% were diagnosed as having homogenous leukoplakia. The association between clinical type of leukoplakia and habit type was statistically not significant (Chi-square= 5.0806, p=0.5336). Majority of the cases which were diagnosed clinically diagnosed as leukoplakias presented a histological diagnosis of hyperkeratosis (45%) and mild epithelial dysplasia (33.33%). The association between histopathological type of leukoplakia and habit type was found to be statistically significant (Chi-square= 23.2166, p=0.0007). Conclusion: Most of the patients were having homogenous leukoplakia and majority of the cases which were diagnosed clinically diagnosed as leukoplakias presented a histological diagnosis of hyperkeratosis, mild epithelial dysplasia.