Around 300 000 patients are estimated to have oral cancer worldwide annually, and the incidence is higher in South Asian countries. In 2005, at the Congress of WHO, the term potentially malignant disorder (PMD)/lesion was suggested as a replacement for premalignant oral lesions and conditions. PMDs are those lesions of the oral mucosa that are at an increased risk of malignant transformation compared with the healthy mucosa. PMDs consist of leukoplakia, erythroplakia, oral lichen planus, oral submucous fibrosis, and other miscellaneous lesions. A literature search was performed using PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science without any language restrictions. There is no standardized method for identifying a site for biopsy and various methods such as toluidine blue stain, methylene blue, Lugol’s iodine, and chemiluminescence have been proposed in the literature. Despite easy access to the oral cavity, there has been significant mortality associated with oral cancer as they are often diagnosed late because of the inability of healthcare professionals to identify them at early premalignant states. This article aims to provide healthcare professionals with the knowledge to identify potentially malignant disorders and to aid them in biopsy site identification.

Background and Objectives: Diabetes mellitus has increased rapidly throughout the world. The objectives of our study were to assess the knowledge and awareness about oral manifestations of diabetes, among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients, their risk for developing oral diseases due to complications associated with diabetes mellitus, and at same time, to perform an oral examination to detect these oral symptoms, if present any, along with the recording of Decayed Missing Filled Teeth Index (DMFT) and Community Periodontal Index (CPI) index. Methodology: Structured questionnaires consisting of 12 different statements on the knowledge base of oral manifestations of diabetes mellitus were distributed to 447 Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Following this oral examination, brushing and dental visit history were noted, and CPI index and DMFT indices were recorded in all the patients. Results: Results showed that the knowledge about oral manifestations of diabetes mellitus was poor with a mean value of 4.92 out of a possible score of 12. Among the study subjects, the average score of men was 4.42 while that of females, was 5.41. These scores, when subjected to statistical analysis, were highly significant. (P value- 0.005) Subjects also showed significantly high DMFT (P value <0.001) and CPI scores (P value- 0.270). Conclusion: Our study concluded that there is a significant lack of knowledge about oral manifestations of diabetes mellitus among patients and hence steps have to be taken to increase their awareness through various outreach programs. All health professionals need to work together for promoting better oral health so that oral complications of diabetes can be brought under control.

Objective:Oral cancer is a significant threat to public health all over the world, especially in Southeast Asia. At the present time, screening of oral cancer, its premalignant stages as well as its early detection, is still largely based on visual examination of the mouth. Visual examination is highly subjective and hence lacks the specificity and sensitivity. The objective of this study was to determine the usefulness of toluidine blue in marking a biopsy site in potentially malignant disorders.Methods:In this study, a total of 500 patients were screened. The study was a case–control study which included 17 lesion cases and 23 normal controls. Toluidine blue staining was taken into consideration to identify clinically doubtful oral potentially malignant lesions and to compare the clinical evaluation with toluidine blue stain followed by a punch biopsy and histological evaluation. SPSS Statistics version 16.0 and Chi-square test were used for statistical analyses.Results:The most common site for potentially malignant lesions was found to be the buccal mucosa. The sensitivity of toluidine blue was found to be 88.89%, while specificity was found to be 74.19%. The positive predictive and negative predictive values were 50% and 97.83%, respectively. P = 0.000672 was considered statistically significant.Conclusions:The results seem to be promising, but many such studies have to be done at larger scales to exactly help us in identifying the capability of toluidine blue in the long run.

Objectives This study was carried out to correlate chronological age of the patients with dental age using to Demirjian's method and to evaluate if orthopantamogram examination of third molar development correlates with age estimation. Study Design The study was designed as a radiological cross sectional study. Simple random sampling method was used to obtain study subjects. Methods Total of 231 patients between the age group of 10 to 25 years, visiting the Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology were selected. The digital orthopantomogram was obtained for these patients. Results Our data showed that, in the maxilla, the stages of tooth developments A to E were reached earlier in men than in women, whereas stages F to H were reached earlier in women than men. In mandible stages B, C, E to F were reached earlier in men than women, whereas stages A and D were reached earlier by the female counterparts. There was a statistically significant difference noted between right and left third molar teeth in all the stages of tooth development. Conclusions Our study showed that between the sexes in maxilla, men reached stages A to E earlier than women, whereas for stages F to H, women reached the stage earlier than men. For mandible, all stages except stage D were reached earlier by male subjects than female subjects. Our study showed that the third molar development can be affected positively by the chronological age of the patient, being developed either in maxilla or mandible, right or left side.