Background: Most common cause of death in developed and developing countries is oral cancer, with increasing habits of smoking, tobacco chewing, and alcohol consumption. Early diagnosis required for better cure rates and improves the quality of life. Screening of oral cancer in general hospitals provides a "window of opportunity" for early diagnosis. Aim: To assess the knowledge of oral cancer and the screening practice among medical students in Chennai city. Objective: To investigate whether medical students are aware of the risk factors and clinical signs of oral cancer. Methodology: A total of 500 medical students (365 undergraduate and 165 postgraduate) studying in Chennai city were included in the questionnaire based survey. Results: About 50% of medical students are aware of oral cancer and only 37% of students screen patients for oral signs during examination; 65.8% of students accept tobacco to be the main etiology of cancer; 31.2% of students accept buccal mucosa to be the common site, and 83% of students are willing to participate in oral cancer screening program. Conclusion:The prognosis of patients depends on the stage of the disease at the time of diagnosis.

Background: The incidence of infections caused by yeast, particularly species of Candida and facultative anaerobic bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus and Lactobacillus acidophilus has increased dramatically during the past decade. Topical and systemic antifungal agents and anti microbial agents may be indicated to control oral candidiasis and periodontal and endodontic disease. The development of resistance is an emerging trend that may threaten the clinical eff ectiveness. Aim: An in vitro study to evaluate the antimicrobial effi cacy of ginger extract on Candida albicans, S. aureus, L. acidophilus, using fi ve diff erent polar organic solvents. Materials and Methods:The crude solvent extracts of ginger were prepared and subjected to antimicrobial assay using the Agar disk diff usion method to determine the zone of inhibition. The solvent extract with a signifi cant zone of inhibition is subjected to gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, to identify the bioactive constituent in the ginger extract. Result: Hexane extract of ginger shows high antimicrobial property, and the bioactive component was found to be zingiberene. Conclusion:The solvent extracts of ginger were proven to have eff ective antimicrobial property.

Aim: To evaluate and correlate the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression in oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) patients with metastasis and without metastasis. Materials and methods:The study comprised of 40 samples, 20 cases of metastatic and 20 nonmetastatic OSCC. All the cases were immunostained for EGFR antibody. Epidermal growth factor receptor stained sections were evaluated for staining intensity and distribution. The differences between the groups were statistically analyzed using Chi-square test. Results: Immunoexpression of EGFR in OSCC was 100% among the study groups, where metastatic group showed an increased positive expression comparing to nonmetastatic OSCC that show statistically significance among the study groups. Conclusion: Expression of EGFR can be used as reliable biomarker for prognosis which can be employed in the prediction of the survival of the patient with OSCC. Clinical significance: Since we are in the theragnostic era, evaluating and quantifying the expression of EGFR in OSCC patient will definitely pave a way in targeted drug therapy and personalized medicine for the diseased.

Introduction: Altered cellular microenvironment of oral cavity is a not an uncommon finding in diabetes mellitus patients. Environmental factors also play a pivotal role in cellular changes where tobacco smoking is one of the major risk factor. Aim & Objective: The aim of the study is to find the cytological changes in oral mucosal cells of diabetic people with and without smoking by using cytomorphometric analysis. Materials and Methods: Oral smears were taken from 50 diabetic patients where 25 with smoking habit and 25 without smoking habit from the oral pathology department of Vinayaka mission's Sankarachariyar dental college and hospital. The smears were fixed with 95%ethyl alcohol and stained with hematoxylin and eosin stain. The stained section observed under image analyzer for cytomorphometric analysis. Results: Cellular and nuclear alterations was significantly increased in diabetic patients with smoking habit when compared to diabetic patients without smoking, with a significant P value of 0.001. Conclusion: Diabetes mellitus influences a definite changes in cellular microenvironment in oral mucosa of smokers. However, further research is required to analyze the significance of these findings as a tool for identifying precancerous condition of oral tissues at an early stage.

Background: In recent days, tissue eosinophils are considered to have more impetus role in the biological behavior of various tumors. Compared to routine hematoxylin and eosin stain, the special stains such as carbol chromotrope for eosinophils are considered to be more specific and definitive for its evaluation in routine histopathology. Aim: This study aims to evaluate and compare the infiltration of tissue eosinophils in different grades of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) using a special stain – carbol chromotrope and to investigate the prognostic role of tissue eosinophils in OSCC. Methodology: The study was carried out with the sample size of fifty histopathologically diagnosed cases of OSCC, of which twenty cases were well differentiated, twenty cases were moderately differentiated, and ten cases were poorly differentiated, and comparison of infiltration of tissue eosinophils in the different grades of OSCC was done using special stain. The tissue sections were stained with carbol chromotrope special stain. Results: In the present study, more number of tissue eosinophils were seen in well-differentiated OSCC cases than the moderately and poorly differentiated OSCC cases, and the analysis of variance test showed P < 0.001. Tukey B's post hoc range test showed that mean scores fell in three different subsets, and the least mean score was observed in the poorly differentiated group (2.20) and the highest mean score was observed in the well-differentiated group (34.75). Conclusion: The results proved that the presence of more number of tissue eosinophils in well-differentiated OSCC is associated with favorable prognosis and that quantitative assessment of tissue eosinophilia should become a part of the routine histopathological diagnosis for the different grades of OSCC.