Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSMF) is a chronic progressive scarring oral disease predominantly affecting people of South Asian origin. It is characterized by juxtaepithelial inflammatory cell infiltration followed by fibrosis in the lamina propria and submucosa of the oral mucosa. The pathogenesis of the disease is not well established and a number of mechanisms have been proposed regarding the pathogenesis. A renewed interest has been shown in myofibrobasts which have been implicated to play a significant role in the pathogenesis of OSMF. The myofibroblast were initially identified by means of electron microscopy in granulation tissue of healing wounds as a modulated fibroblast exhibiting features of smooth muscle cells, with prominent bundles of microfilaments, dense bodies scattered in between, and gap junctions. The presence of myofibroblasts has successively been described in practically all fibrotic situations characterized by tissue retraction and remodeling. This review paper is an attempt to identify all the studies involving myofibroblasts and explaining the pathogenesis in a simplified manner.

Background: The percentage of cancers of the tongue and palatine tonsils has continued to increase by 2%–4% among younger men. This increased prevalence of a subsection of oropharyngeal carcinoma can be associated with human papillomavirus (HPV). Among the head-and-neck cancers, a strong association with HPV infection is evident with oropharyngeal cancers, particularly tonsillar and basal tongue cancers. Objectives: Oral carcinoma, with an overall incidence of 16.1 adults per 100,000, is one of the leading malignancies worldwide, presenting a noticeable geographic variation in its distribution. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) being the most common of all oral malignancies, the objective of the study is to detect the HPV antigen p16 over-expression in patients with oral SCC using immunohistochemistry (IHC). Materials and Methods: Oral SCC (OSCC) diagnosed formalin-fixed-paraffin embedded blocks were processed for IHC. Results: Out of 50 cases, 3 were deferred due to insufficient tumor sample and 2/47 cases were p16 positive and the site was the lateral border of the tongue. Conclusion: The HPV antigen overexpression in patients with OSCC was investigated to detect the incidence of HPV in SCC of oral cavity. P16 was used as a marker for the detection of OSCC using IHC in HPV-induced OSCC. Positives were detected thus concluding the significance of studying HPV expression during diagnosis.

Large, atypical peripheral ossifying fibromas are known as giant peripheral ossifying fibromas. These lesions have often been associated with heterogeneous clinical and radiographic characteristics subsequently leading to their misdiagnosis. Biopsies have been the gold standard for the diagnosis of such lesions. This study reports on an acute presentation of giant peripheral ossifying fibroma, clinically mimicking a malignant lesion due to its atypical presentation along with its characteristic histological features, which led to the establishment of the diagnosis.

There was an increased MVD, MVA and TVA in poorly differentiated OSCC, which could be used as an additional criterion to histologically grade the tumor.

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