Academy of Dental Knowledge

Oral Lichen Planus on left mucosa [1] Question: What is oral lichen planus? Answer: It is a chronic inflammatory condition that affects the skin, nails, hair, and mucous membranes, characterised by purplish, itchy, flat  eruptions. Question: How common is the condition? Answer: It is a common condition in India. Its cases are reported more than 10 lakh per year in India.   Question: How much time does it need for recovery? Answer: It can last several years or remains lifelong. Question: Is the condition treatable?   Answer: Treatments can help manage conditions. There is no known cure present.     Question: Does diagnosis require lab tests or imaging?   Answer: Its diagnosis rarely requires lab tests or imaging.         Condition Highlights   It commonly occurs for ages 35-50.   It is more common in females.   Family history may increase likelihood to occur.    

Oral mucosal lesions are common. They can be due to physiological changes or a local disease. They may also be an oral manifestation of a skin condition, an adverse drug reaction or systemic disease, for example, gastrointestinal disease. To manage an oral mucosal disease successfully one requires an accurate diagnosis. Now the question arises, how will we get an accurate diagnosis? The correct answer is, by a thorough assessment of oral mucosa for a lesion. Assessment for an oral mucosal lesion involves taking a full patient history. This includes a medication history too. Next we need to perform a thorough extraoral and intraoral examination and use diagnostic investigations where appropriate. One should have a high index of suspicion for oral cancer. To recognise oral cancer one should be familiar with the risk factors for oral cancer . You can see the “ Oral Cancer ” topic to know about risk factors for oral cancer. You should also thoroughly know the red flag features of oral canc...

Oral leukoplakia  (OL) is a clinical term for a nonremovable white lesion that is not easily recognisable as any particular condition and therefore requires further investigation. Oral leukoplakia manifests as patches that are bright white and sharply defined. The surfaces of the patches are slightly raised above the surrounding mucosa. Oral leukoplakia may be homogenous (uniform lesion often with a fissured surface), or nonhomogeneous (with surface irregularity and textural or colour variation for example speckled-see below given photograph.