Background and Aim:Indian patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) are etiologically associated with the use of tobacco and alcohol; yet, a proportion of tumors that may harbor human papillomavirus (HPV) infections cannot be neglected. The following meta-analysis was conducted to address the association of p16INK4a and HPV DNA with OSCC. In addition, the study also provides the updated prevalence of HPV-induced OSCC.Materials and Methods:Literature survey was performed using databases such as PubMed with the help of the following keywords – “HPV infection,” “oral squamous cell carcinoma,” “p16INK4a,” “HPV DNA,” “E6,” “E7,” “L1,” “L2” and “LCR.” Proportion method was performed to derive the forest plot using MedCalc statistical software version 16.4.3.Results:Among 145 research articles, 33 articles were selected for further analysis, in which 13 articles were related to HPV DNA detection in tissues, 11 articles detected the overexpression of p16INK4a and nine articles reported the detection of both HPV DNA and p16INK4a expression. Meta-analysis revealed significant heterogeneity (P < 0.0001) among the articles. Overall, the study consisted of 3339 patients with OSCC, among which 559 patients were diagnosed with the presence of HPV16 DNA with a random proportion of 20.1% at 95% confidence interval (CI) (13.9–27.1, P < 0.0001). Overexpression of p16INK4a protein was observed in 709 patients with a random proportion of 25.4% at 95% CI (14.3–38.3, P < 0.0001).Conclusion:HPV DNA and expression of p16INK4a was suggested as gold standard for the detection of HPV infection in many cases of cancers. Frequency of HPV infection is significantly higher in patients with OSCC as identified through the detection of HPV DNA and p16INK4a expression. Even though the association of HPV infection has been established in head and neck cancer, this review could further the establishment of molecular level interaction of HPV in patients with oral cancer.

qPCR detection of HPV infection is a fast, reliable, and accurate technique gives valuable information about the infection status in terms of viral load.

Aims and Objective:(1) To study the clinical and histological features of oral lichen planus, oral lichenoid reaction (OLR) and oral lichenoid dysplasia (OLD). (2) To estimate and compare the silver nucleolar organizer regions in OLR and OLD.Materials and Methods:A total of 40 biopsies were studied; sections were divided as study group, which consists of OLP, OLR and OLD each of 10 cases and 10 biopsies of normal oral mucosa as control group. Sections were stained by silver staining technique and total number of silver stained nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) were counted in nucleoli of 100 cells in each section under x100 objective (oil immersion).Results:Our study revealed that the difference between the (AgNOR) count of OLP (2.272 ± 0.09) and OLR (2.27 ± 0.073) is not statistically significant (P = 0.81). The mean AgNOR count of OLD (2.388 ± 0.043) compared to that of OLP (2.272 ± 0.09) and OLR (2.27 ± 0.073) showed an increase and it is statistically highly significant (P = 0.002 and P = 0.003, respectively).Conclusion:AgNOR count is an objective test, which has stronger biological basis for diagnosing epithelial dysplasia. It is easy to perform, inexpensive and is performed on biopsied specimen. However, this technique cannot differentiate OLP and OLR, as there is no much difference in the proliferative activity of cells in these two lesions. It is reasonable to suggest that all biopsy tissues from lichenoid lesions where dysplastic features are observed in routine histopathological sections should be additionally stained by silver technique to ascertain dysplastic status of the lesion.Clinical Significance:This is an improved diagnostic parameter, which will help pathologists to formulate more definitive final histopathological diagnosis and will in turn facilitate the formulation of patient treatment and follow-up care by clinicians.

Odontogenic myxoma (OM) is a relatively rare benign odontogenic tumor of mesenchymal origin. OM is more common in the mandible than in the maxilla. It is an asymptomatic lesion that shows an infiltrative growth pattern. When the maxillary sinus is involved, it often fills the entire antrum. Odontogenic tumors are uncommon in the maxillary molar area, which often leads to diagnostic dilemma as this region of the maxilla is in the vicinity of vital structures, and radiographic overlapping of structures is always present. We present a similar case of a 17-year-old male patient who reported with a swelling in the left maxilla that infiltrated the maxillary sinus in a short duration of time.

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