Nicotine replacement therapy: a treatment angle for oral diagnostician

Abstract

As an oral diagnostician, many of our patients we come across are mostly the potentially malignant disorder cases. Either it might be leukoplakia, nicotina stomatitis, oral submucous fibrosis, tobacco pouch keratosis. In each of this cases where habits are the prime factor for occurrence of the lesions intraorally, the first line of treatment is cessation of the habits. But practically speaking, we don't spend much time about the cessation of the habits. As an oral diagnostician, it is our duty to motivate and educate the patient about the evil effects of the deleterious habits and need to follow up the patient and guide him to quit the habits. This article intends to highlight about one of the methods to stop the deleterious habit of smoking that is nicotine replacement therapy and therewith preventing the transformation of potentially malignant disorders into oral cancer.