Based on these findings we propose that oral cancers with OSMF constitute a clinicopathologically distinct disease. Since all patients with OSMF had chewed areca nut with or without smokeless tobacco, we believe that the differences in the 2 groups emanate from differential mechanisms of areca nut carcinogenesis.

Chronic suppurative otitis media is a common condition seen in patients attending the otolaryngology clinic. The discharging ear presents the otologist with the dilemma of operating on it or not. This due to the widespread belief that the success rate while doing tympanoplasty on wet ears is decidedly inferior. To evaluate this fact we conducted a study to compare outcomes of type 1 tympanoplasty in dry and wet ears. Wet ear meant that the patient had a mild mucoid discharge which was negative on culture. Type 1 tympanoplasty was done in all patients under local anesthesia using temporalis fascia graft and by underlay technique. We conclude that the presence of discharge in the ear at the time of operation does not interfere with the results of tympanoplasty, but it should be mucoid and scanty.

The objective of this study was to examine the clinical and pathological features of squamous cell carcinoma of the Tongue and Buccal Mucosa and understand their differences. This is a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data of 735 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue and 665 cases of carcinoma of the buccal mucosa treated by surgery at our hospital. Statistical analysis was done to examine clinical and pathological differences between carcinoma of the tongue and the buccal mucosa with regards to age, gender, clinical T stage/N stage, pathological T stage/N stage, overall stage, grade, thickness, perinodal extension (PNE), lymphovascular emboli (LVE) and perineural invasion (PNI). Statistically significant differences were found for factors like age (p < 0.001), gender (p < 0.001), clinical T staging (p < 0.001) and pathological stage (p < 0.001), grade of tumor (p < 0.001) and perineural invasion (p < 0.001) between carcinoma of the tongue and the buccal mucosa. Forty-eight percent patients in either subsite had pathologically proven node negative necks (pN0, p = 0.88). Multivariate analysis for occult nodal metastases revealed that predictive factors were different for the two subsites. There are significant differences between cancers of the tongue and buccal mucosa for various clinical and pathological factors. This may be a reflection of the underlying differences in their causation and pathophysiology. Squamous cell carcinoma in these two subsites should therefore be regarded as clinico-pathologically distinct entities.

There is variation in the primary site that causes metastasis to the jaw bones depending on age, sex and geographic distribution. Jaw bone metastases are rare and can be the first site of metastasis. We get approximately four cases in a year with metastatic disease manifesting in the jaw bones. Metastasis to jaw bone is associated with poor prognosis.