Sociodemographic and Clinical Profile of Oral Submucous Fibrosis

Background: Oral Submucous Fibrosis is a pre-cancerous, progressive condition caused by gutkha, areca nut consumption which is characterized by limited mouth opening, burning pain inoral cavity, stiffness and blanching of oral mucosa. Aim: To study sociodemographic characters and clinical profile of Oral Submucous Fibrosis and to assess the association of duration of adverse habits with clinical staging of Oral Submucous Fibrosis. Methodology: This cross-sectional study of 70 clinically diagnosed cases of oral submucous fibrosis was carried out at the Tertiary Health Care Centre in Central India. Over the course of two years, demographic and clinical information, including specifics on addiction and its duration, was gathered. On the basis of symptoms, the presence of palpable fibrous bands, and measuring mouth opening, clinical staging was carried out. Results: The average age of the patients in the study was 33.2 ± 12.66 years with Male female ratio of 3:1. Significantly higher proportion of patients belonged to low socioeconomic status. The maximum number of patients were seen in stage III (62.86%) followed by Stage II (21.43%) and subjects who had the adverse habits for a period of 5 to 10 years had more severe OSMF. Conclusion: In the present study, frequency of OSMF was more in young age group and in males. There was higher frequency of disease in lower socioeconomic status. Longer duration addiction was highly associated with severity of clinical stage of OSMF.