TOBACCO ASSOCIATED ORAL LESIONS AND LEVELS OF DEPENDENCE AMONG ADULT MALE PATIENTS VISITING A DENTAL HOSPITAL IN CHENNAI

Background and aim: Smoke and smokeless tobacco use cause extreme effects on soft and hard tissues in and around the oral cavity. A routine intraoral examination by a dental health professional can reveal most of these lesions at an early stage and prevent serious sequelae. The aim of the study was to assess the tobacco associated oral lesions and level of dependence among male patients attending a private dental college in Chennai. Materials and method: The study was conducted in a hospital setting by retrieving data from the case records of 483 patients from the time period between August 2019 - January 2020. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were used. Results: The study population consisted of male tobacco smokers.The participants were categorised based on index age groups. Habit of smoking tobacco was found in 65.9% and smokeless tobacco was found to be in usage among 34.1% of the population. Leukoplakia (14.3%) was the most common lesion that was observed in the study population after tobacco stains (52.4%), followed by oral submucous fibrosis (10.6%) Statistically significance observed between tobacco induced oral lesion and tobacco dependence (p <0.05). The comparison between form of tobacco usage and nicotine dependence level was also found to be statistically significant (p <0.05). Conclusion: The higher the dependence on tobacco, the more the risk of development of oral mucosal lesions, suggesting a dose response relationship.