ABSTRACT
Objective: Oral submucous fibrosis is a premalignant condition of the oral cavity affecting pharynx also. Pathogenesis for this was always questionable.Mast cells which are present in this lesion were always seen to be associated with a variety of inflammation and fibrotic conditions.These mast cell mediators show varied variations with the change in the microenvironment but still only a little is known about their role in Oral submucous fibrosis.Thus making this study interesting. Study design: Correlation between mast cells in oral submucous fibrosis, oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and normal buccal mucosa was studied using toluidine blue staining. Results: Density of mast cell was significantly higher in OSMF when compared to normal buccal mucosa.There was no significant difference between mild, moderate and severe oral submucous fibrosis and oral submucous fibrosis when compared to OSCC.This study failed to demonstrate any definite association between oral squamous cell carcinoma and Mast cell count density(MCD) Conclusion: This study shows MCD of different groups (mild, moderate and severe OSF and OSSC) on comparison with MCD of controls showed statistically significant variation. Intergroup comparison between mild, moderate and severe OSF and OSF with OSCC showed no statistical significance.
KEYWORDS:
premalignant lesion, Premalignant condition, oral Submucous fibrosis, Squamous cell carcinoma