Abstract :
Introduction: Oropharyngeal ulcers are very common in North East part of India due to bad oral habits like chewing of tobacco etc. A study was performed at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital among the patients attending otorhinolaryngology outdoor to explore the relationship of different types and proportion of oropharyngeal ulcers with their commonest anatomical sites and to elicit the relationship with bad oral habits.
Aims: To elicit the different types and proportions of oropharyngeal ulcers. To explore the relationship of different histopathological types with anatomical sites. To identify the relationship with addiction.
Material and Methods: This is a Cross-sectional Observational Hospital based study, conducted in the Otorhinolaryngology outdoor of North Bengal Medical College and Hospital twice a week. 102 patients were selected as study population after maintaining inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Results: The study shows that the most common type of ulcer is aphthous (25.49%) and the least common types are erythroplakia and autoimmune ulcers (1.96%). It is found that most of the ulcers affect the tongue (28, 27.45%) and the least affected site is the retromolar trigone (4, 3.92%). In the tongue the lateral border is the most commonly affected site. Chewing betel nut is the commonest addiction associated with oropharyngeal ulcers.
Conclusion: The study performed to determine different histopathological types, proportions and commonest anatomical site of presentation of different oropharyngeal ulcers which are very common in the North East part of India. Since no such study found in this area previously this study although very preliminary, might help for future studies of similar nature in an area where oral ulcer is very much prevalent. However a short study of this nature cannot be a conclusion and a detailed cohort study is essential to cover all the clinical and pathological aspects of the problem.
Keyword :
Ulcer, Oral Cavity, Oropharynx, Anatomical sites.