The prevalence of oral mucosal lesions in the patients visiting a dental school in Northern India in relation to sex, site and distribution: A retrospective study.

Objective: To determine the distribution of oro-mucosal lesions in patients of Maharishi Markendeshwer College of Dental Sciences and Research, (MMCDSR), Mullana.Further to identify sex predilection and different sites which are more susceptible to different oro-mucosal lesions.Materials and methods: A hospital based retrospective study was carried out from 1st January 2007 till 31st December 2009 at (MMCDSR), Mullana.A total of 451 biopsy reports were studied.Distribution and prevalence of oro-mucosal lesions among the data were analyzed using SPSS software package version 13.Results: There was no mention of habits in the biopsy reports of 85.4 % (385 patients) of the subjects.Out of the 66 subjects whose habits were mentioned, 71.2 % (47 patients) used to smoke tobacco in one form or the other.21.2 % (14 patients) used to chew tobacco, 4.5 % (3 patients) of the subjects were in the habit of both smoking and chewing tobacco.More percentage of females 53.1 % were present in the age-group of 11-20 years as compared to males 46.9 % whereas in all other age-groups males were more in number.Regarding the distribution of oral lesions in the oral cavity, buccal mucosa was the common site for the presence of potentially malignant disorders in 16.8 % of the subjects and it was also the most common site for all the lesions.Conclusion: Lesion prevalence differed significantly by age, sex, and tobacco use.Individual demographic details such as age, gender, occupation, food habits, other deleterious oral habits, religion and oral hygiene measures should have a provision in biopsy request sheet and should be duly filled which will help in identifying risk-groups.Community programmes should be taken for public health to get them screened for any oral-mucosal lesions by availing pathological lab facilities.