Background: Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSMF) is an oral potentially malignant disorder (OPMD) that commonly occurs in the South Asian population as there is high usage of areca nut. There has been extensive research on the pathogenesis and treatment of this condition. It is well-established in the scientific literature that mast cells (MC) have a definitive role in several inflammatory disorders. OSMF being a chronic inflammatory disorder, is also expected to have increased MCs. Hence, this review aims to evaluate the role of MCs in the pathogenesis of OSMF. Methods: A systematic search of articles was performed by two of the authors independently in PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar using the appropriate keywords and Boolean terms. The risk of bias was assessed using the Modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. The meta-analysis was performed with R studio software (Version: 4.4.0, Year: 2024, Company: The R foundation for statistical computing). Results: The search retrieved 36 studies, of which 16 were suitable for the review. There is evidence for a marked increase in the number of MCs in OSMF than the normal mucosa upon analyzing the retrieved articles. However, when comparing the grades of OSMF, there are variations in the reports. As all the retrieved articles were case-control studies, the risk of bias was analyzed using the Modified New Castle Ottawa Scale. All the studies scored in the good category (Score 6–9). The pooled effect size shows the Standard Mean Deviation (SMD) to be 0.09, 95% confidence interval (CI) [-0.18;0.37] to lie on either side of no effect. Hence the role of MCs in OSMF has not been established because of homogeneity and consistent sampling error. Conclusion: Our systematic review does suggest a definitive role of mast cells in the progression of OSMF. However, there is a lack of methodological rigor in the included studies. This may contribute to diluting the results.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a significant public health problem worldwide. More than 95% of the carcinomas of the oral cavity are of squamous cell type, in nature. The development of OSCC is a multistep process requiring the accumulation of multiple genetic alterations, influenced by environmental influences, including tobacco products, alcohol consmption, viral infection, chronic inflammation and also patient's genetic predisposition. Here we present a case of oral squamous cell carcinoma of palate in a 62-year-old male patient.

Background: There is a high incidence of oral cancer and oral potential malignant disorder observed in southeast Asian countries such as India. Our study aimed to assess the correlation between screening and histopathological diagnosis and to predict the specificity and sensitivity of chair-side/field-based assessment of the oral lesion.Materials and methods: A total of 40,852 subjects aged between 20 and 60 years were screened in the 1st phase of the study, suspected lesions were stained with toluidine blue (Manufactured by Otto Chemicals private limited, India) at two time points, those who stained positively during the two points were taken up for biopsy. Provisional diagnosis was later correlated with histopathological diagnosis.Results: Subjects who underwent biopsy had a mean age of (49.01 ± 9.8 years), Leukoplakia (1.5%) was the most common lesion observed among tobacco users, interestingly it had the least correlation (39.6%) in diagnosis, Overall sensitivity (88%) and a positive predictive value (80%) was high for clinical diagnosis of OPMD in our study.Conclusion: Correlation of clinical and histopathological diagnosis observed in our study confirms higher yield of true positives while screening in remote and vulnerable populations, which would assure a better quality of life for these subjects.