Background: If oral mucosal lesions are detected early by the oral health practitioners, there will be a better prognosis for the lesions diagnosed. This cross-sectional study was designed to assess the perceptions and awareness of dental students of the Government Dental College and Hospital, Mumbai, toward oral tissues. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire was created to assess the perceptions and awareness of dental students towards oral tissues. This questionnaire had 25 questions with multiple choices. Options of these questions were based on 3-point and 5-point Likert scale. This questionnaire was converted into a Google Form and distributed among all the undergraduate students of the Government Dental College and Hospital, Mumbai, along with a declaration form via electronic methods such as Gmail and WhatsApp, after explaining to them the aim and objectives of the study. Results: A total of n = 334 dental students responded, yielding a response rate of 66.8%. Most dental students agreed that it is important to focus on oral soft tissues apart from oral hard tissues. Most participants believed that it is the role of the dentist to perform the complete oral examination. Lack of training, confidence, time, etc., were seen as barriers to at least some degree by participants. Conclusion: This study highlights the awareness of oral soft tissues among dental students and the importance of its academic reinforcement. This would definitely help budding dentists to work more on oral cancer prevention and detection, which ultimately may lead to a decrease in the incidence of oral cancers.

Background: It has been reported that oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is associated with the presence of potentially malignant disorders (PMDs) in 15%–48% of cases. Among PMDs, oral leukoplakia (OL) is the most common, with 16%–62% of cases associated with OSCC. Hence, in the present study, we have analyzed demographic data and re-evaluated immunohistochemical (IHC) data of OL cases and aimed to correlate the clinical, histopathological and IHC aspects of OL. Materials and Methods: The data of histopathologically diagnosed cases of OL were retrieved from the archives. These data were further evaluated for age, gender, duration, site, size, side, habits, clinical staging and histopathological grading. IHC re-evaluation of OL tissues was done using epithelial cadherin (E-cadherin), n = 20; human MutL homolog 1 (hMLH1), n = 30; CD1a ( n = 30); vimentin ( n = 30); Ki-67 ( n = 30); heat shock protein-70 (HSP-70), n = 30; p16 INK4 , n = 20; and mucin-1 (MUC1), n = 30. All the results and observations were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis. Results: The male: female ratio was 7.5:1; right side and buccal mucosa were more commonly affected. The duration of the lesion ranged from 1 to 30 years. One hundred and twelve patients were habituated to tobacco chewing, while 171 patients came with a combined habit of smoke and smokeless tobacco usage. Clinically, most of the lesions were of stage 2 while histopathologically they were of mild dysplasia. There was a decrease in the immunoexpression of E-cadherin, hMLH1 and CD1a, while there was an increase in the immunoexpression of vimentin, Ki-67, HSP-70, MUC1 and p16 INK4 . Conclusion: The study of different biomarkers such as cytoplasmic, membranous and nuclear in OL will help in better understanding and application of a reliable marker for diagnostic and prognostic purpose.