No abstract

The prevalence of oral pre-cancer in tea estate labourers was higher than estimates reported in previous studies. In the absence of state-sponsored preventive activities, it is necessary to improve the capacity of individual health practitioners and small medical centres to participate in oral health promotion and oral cancer/pre-cancer screening.

Although tumours of the young patients showed more nuclear aberrations, OSCC of the older patients is proliferative and showed higher metastatic rate.

Introduction Different systems of traditional medicine of the Indian subcontinent, have used Acacia chundra Willd, Adhatoda vasica Nees., Mimusops elengi L., Piper nigrum L., Pongamia pinnata L. Pirerre, Quercus infectoria Olivier., Syzygium aromaticum L., Terminalia chebula Retz., Zingiber officinale Roscoe., individually or in combinations, to cure oral diseases. Objective To investigate the oral hygiene and gingival health benefits of toothpaste formulated with a mixture of the above herbs (15% w/w). Methods Sixty participants (test n=30, control n=30, mean age 23.6±2.25 vs 23.9±3.2 years) who fulfilled the selection criteria and had similar plaque (1.734±0.29 vs 1.771±0.33) and percentage of sites with gingival bleeding (19.6±7 vs 20.7±8) were studied in a double blind randomised clinical trial. Brushing instructions to all and a scaling for those with calculus were provided two weeks before baseline examination. One ml of resting saliva was collected to ascertain anaerobic (SAnB) and aerobic (SAB) bacterial counts, plaque index (PI), percentage sites with bleeding on probing (BOP) and pocket depth (PD) (at 6 sites/tooth) were recorded at baseline, followed by home use of the allocated toothpaste (test or placebo) twice a day for 12 weeks. Measurements were repeated at 4, 8, and 12 weeks. Results PI, BOP and SAnB decreased significantly in the test group at 4, 8, and 12 weeks compared to baseline measurements (W ilcoxon-Signed Rank Test, p<0.01). There was no statistically significant improvement in PI, BOP, and SAnB in the placebo group. Conclusions Our study indicates the beneficial effects of this herbal toothpaste (Sudantha ®) on oral hygiene and gingival health variables when compared with the placebo. Further clinical trials using patients with gingivitis are necessary to confirm the therapeutic benefits of this herbal toothpaste.

The cytobrush, unlike the spatula, is a useful screening instrument for early diagnosis of suspicious oral lesions and could therefore contribute to improved oral cancer prognosis.