Optical coherence tomography in oral cancer: A transpiring domain.

Identification of oral cancer at an early curable stage not only aids in controlling the mortality and morbidity rate but also improves the quality of life of the patient. Indeed, regular monitoring of such life-threatening disease has held an imperative role in cancer diagnostics. Various light-based diagnostics are currently available to the clinician for early diagnosis of oral cancer. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is one such emerging light-based diagnostic modality that provides noninvasive, real-time images at a depth of 1.5-2 mm and can also be compared to corresponding histopathological sections, hence this procedure can also be referred as optical biopsy. This technique can also be used as an adjunct to histopathology in circumstances where large areas are needed to be examined, screening apprehensive patients, larger populations, and for regular monitoring of patients. The current article is a brief review that highlights basic principle, various versions, and applications of OCT in the diagnosis of oral cancer.

Various forms of tobacco usage and its associated oral mucosal lesions.

BACKGROUND: To study the various forms of tobacco usage and its associated oral mucosal lesions among the patients attending Vishnu Dental College Bhimavaram. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted in a total of 450 patients who were divided into three groups based upon type of tobacco use, as Group-1 Reverse smoking, Group-2 Conventional smoking, Group-3 Smokeless tobacco group and each group consists of 150 subjects. RESULTS: Reverse smoking was observed to be more prevalent among old females with smoker's palate and carcinomatous lesions being the most common. Conventional smoking was observed more in male patients with maximum occurrence of leukoplakia and tobacco associated melanosis. Smokeless tobacco habit was predominantly seen in younger males. Habit specific lesions like tobacco pouch keratosis, Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSMF), Quid induced lichenoid reaction were noticed in smokeless tobacco habit group except for erythroplakia which was noticed only in conventional smoking group and it was not significant statistically. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study it was found that the usage of reverse smoking habit was most commonly seen in females and this habit is practiced in and surrounding areas of Bhimavaram with more occurrence of carcinoma compared to conventional smoking and smokeless tobacco. KEY WORDS: Tobacco, reverse smoking, conventional smoking, smokeless tobacco, carcinoma.