Various forms of tobacco usage and its associated oral mucosal lesions

Background: To study the various forms of tobacco usage and its associated oral mucosal lesions among the patients attending Vishnu Dental College Bhimavaram. Material and Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted in a total of 450 patients who were divided into three groups based upon type of tobacco use, as Group-1 Reverse smoking, Group-2 Conventional smoking, Group-3 Smokeless tobacco group and each group consists of 150 subjects. Results: Reverse smoking was observed to be more prevalent among old females with smoker’s palate and carcinomatous lesions being the most common. Conventional smoking was observed more in male patients with maximum occurrence of leukoplakia and tobacco associated melanosis. Smokeless tobacco habit was predominantly seen in younger males. Habit specific lesions like tobacco pouch keratosis, Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSMF), Quid induced lichenoid reaction were noticed in smokeless tobacco habit group except for erythroplakia which was noticed only in conventional smoking group and it was not significant statistically . Conclusions: In the present study it was found that the usage of reverse smoking habit was most commonly seen in females and this habit is practiced in and surrounding areas of Bhimavaram with more occurrence of carcinoma compared to conventional smoking and smokeless tobacco

Reveal the concealed – Morphological variations of the coronoid process, condyle and sigmoid notch in personal identification

Objective of the study: The study was conducted to evaluate different morphological variations of the coronoid process, the condyle and the sigmoid notch using panoramic radiographs for personal identification. Materials and methods: The study was carried out using 200 digital orthopantomographs (OPGs) comprised of both sexes; and the different shapes of the coronoid process, condyle and the sigmoid notch were traced on projection sheets for both the right and left sides and the data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis. Results: The current study has illustrated various morphological shapes of the three selected entities and the most common shape of the coronoid process was observed to be triangular and that of sigmoid notch was the wider form. Whereas the condylar shape commonly observed among the males and females were angled and round shapes respectively. These variations when compared on both the sides had shown no statistical significance. Conclusion: The present study has tried to unfold the unknown aspects pertaining to our ethnic group for identification of a person by means of panoramic radiographs. The results have exemplified that the variations in the morphology of the coronoid process, condyle and the sigmoid notch using panoramic radiography can tentatively be used as a screening tool in human identification owing to its ready availability in most of the hospital settings