Clinical surveys and biopsy studies demonstrated a close correlation among reverse smoking, nicotine stomatitis, and carcinoma of the palate.

THE effect of smoking on the oral cavity has been well studied for quite a number of years in the West. A peculiar method of smoking home made cigars (smoking with the burning end inside the mouth) is common in Visakhapatnam district in the east coast of India and carcinoma of the hard palate is associated with it, especially in women (Kini and Rao, 1937; Khanolkar and Suryabai, 1945;Reddy and Rao, 1957). But so far no particular effort has been made to study the changes in the palate due to this method of smoking and the histological changes produced in the palate as a result of this type of smoking.Stomatitis nicotina, described by Thoma in 1941, is the name given to the changes in the hard palate in cigar smokers. This lesion has been studied by others such

No abstract

Three hundred fifty‐nine cases of stomatitis nicotina were studied in reverse smokers of home made chuttas. One hundred thirty‐five biopsies of papular unbilicated lesions of stomatitis nicotina were studied histopathologically. The biopsies were chosen after toluidine blue staining. Mild dysplastic to severe dysplastic changes were seen around the openings of the ducts of the glands. There were three cases of microinvasive carcinoma in the one hundred thirty‐five biopsies. Cystic dilatation of the ducts, due to obstruction of the ducts by keratotic plugging, was not seen in stomatitis nicotina lesions but was seen in elderly women who had smoked reverse for more than 4 to 5 decades. The ducts of the glands could probably form a portal of entry for the tobacco pyrolytic products which may act as carcinogenics.

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