DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2018.v06i01.080

Pages: 395-398

Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSMF) is premalignant condition having high malignant transformation rate and increased risk of oral squamous cell carcinoma. The present study was done to study the prevalence of oral submucous fibrosis patients. This cross-sectional study was carried out for the study of prevalence of oral submucous fibrosis. The study population was selected from all the patients coming to the OPD of the ENT department of SMBT institute of medical sciences, Nasik, for time period of 8 months from November 2016 to June 2017. The patients having the age above 15 years were selected for the study. The examination was done by 4 qualified doctors who were trained by the senior departmental staff. Patients past history, habit history and in detail the clinical features of the patient were recorded. The statistical analysis was done with the help of IBM SPSS version 16. Total patients examined in the present study were 1167. Out of 1167 patients, 41 (3.51%) were presented with OSMF and majority of patients i. e. 18 (1.54%) belong to 15 to 24 years. Out of 755, 29 (70.73%) male patients were found with presence of OSMF and 12 (29.26%) out of 412 females were presented with OSMF. In the present study, OSMF was seen in 41 patients out of whom 21 (51.21%) patients had gutkha chewing habit, 12 (29.26%) patients chewed areca nut and tobacco and 08 (19.51%) patients used areca nut only. From the study it can be concluded that there is need for public health awareness regarding the oral submucous fibrosis and the dangerous outcomes of habitual betel nut chewing.