Prevalence of Keratosis in the Oral Cavity: A Clinical Retrospective Study

A lesion in the oral cavity can appear clinically white due to an increase in keratin (hyperkeratosis), an increase in the thickness of the spongiotic cells (acanthosis), accumulation of fluid within the epithelium, and formation of the pseudomembrane. There are several innocuous white lesions, while only a few require aggressive management. The lesions of frictional keratosis, tobacco pouch keratosis, and morsicatio buccarum (MB) are innocuous white lesions that can be treated with simple treatments. This paper aimed to study the prevalence of the three white lesions among the patients visiting Saveetha Dental College. The objectives were to study the gender prevalence of the lesions and the average age distribution of these lesions.

The study was a retrospective clinical study that collected data from DIAS (Digital Information and Archiving Software) over four years among the patients visiting Saveetha Dental College. The inclusion and exclusion criteria were based on the clinical diagnostic features, and the existence of any other oral potentially malignant disorder made the exclusion criteria. The collected data were entered into Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). The data were analyzed for descriptive and inferential statistics.

The total number of patients with the lesions mentioned above was 5,613, with an average age of 37.28 years. The most common lesion was frictional keratosis with 4,026 patients, followed by tobacco pouch keratosis with 1,537 patients. The least common was MB, with 54 patients. Based on gender, all of the above lesions were most commonly seen in men. The age analysis revealed that frictional keratosis and MB were seen in middle age, while tobacco pouch keratosis was seen in middle to old age.

From the above study, it is noticed that frictional keratosis was the most common lesion, which had arisen most commonly in the third molar region and was seen in the younger age group due to the eruption of the third molars. Among the lesions, the only tobacco-induced lesion was tobacco pouch keratosis, which was seen predominantly in middle to old age, implying that prolonged habit usage was essential for the lesion to develop.

This study has helped us understand the prevalence of innocuous keratotic lesions in the South Indian population. The findings of this study will give a guideline for confirming the clinical diagnosis of similar lesions. This could potentially reduce the need for undertaking a biopsy and rather try treating with less invasive modalities, and when no response is seen, then it would be worthwhile to do a biopsy.