PREVALENCE OF ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL DISEASES AMONG PATIENTS IN A DENTAL COLLEGE IN RURAL SOUTH KERALA: A 10 YEAR RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

*Thomas Sunila, MDS, Velayudhannair Vivek, MDS, Thomas Jincy, MDS and Lekha Saranya Balachandran, BDS

ABSTRACT

Context: Prevalence of oral diseases are increasing in the rural sector due to adverse oral habits and emerging infections. Identification of oral mucosal pathologies is an integral part of health care. Aims: A 10 year retrospective study to assess the prevalence of oral and maxillofacial diseases among patients in a dental college in rural south Kerala. Settings and Design: An institution based retrospective study was designed to assess the prevalence of oral lesions. Methods and Material: A total of 123784 patients were assessed between January 2007 and December 2017. Data obtained from records were assessed and the lesions were diagnosed based on clinical examination. The oral lesions were categorized into 17 groups included developmental defects, oral soft tissue lesions, oral potentially malignant diseases, malignant diseases, physical chemical and thermal injuries, fungal infections, allergic and immunological diseases etc. The oral lesions studied were grouped based on gender and age groups in decades. Statistical analysis used: The data was tabulated and evaluated in Microsoft excel spreadsheet. The percentage of prevalence of oral diseases and prevalence based on gender and age groups in decades was evaluated. Results: The prevalence of oral lesions was 6.02% .Males was more affected than females. The diseases were prevalent in sixth decade. The most common category was oral potentially malignant diseases (1.5%). Considering individual lesions, traumatic keratosis(0.51%) had higher occurrence followed by leukoplakia (0.5%), lichen planus (0.49%) etc. Conclusions: This study provides an assessment of the prevalence and categorization of oral lesions in a rural population.

Keywords: Maxillofacial diseases, Oral lesions, Prevalence, Rural dental college.