PREVALENCE OF ORAL MUCOSAL NORMAL VARIATIONS IN A GERIATRIC POPULATION OF CHHATTISGARH- A REAL WORLD EVIDENCE

The incidence of OMLs is thought to extend with age, because of physiological changes within the oral cavity and also because of the sustained impact of risk habits. Other predisposing factors within the elderly include decreased saliva flow and long-lasting effects of local and systemic factors, like alcohol intake, smoking, snuff and drug use. The importance to differentiate normal conditions from pathological lesions lies within the proven fact that the normal variations don't need any medical intervention. Oral mucosa may be a harbor to several such normal variations which can confuse the diagnosis among the budding dentists. So, proper knowledge about their existence, prevalence and features are very important. The search of the literature revealed no such studies in Chhattisgarh Population, warranting a quick need to carry out a study to understand the prevalence of oral mucosal normal variations in the geriatric Chhattisgarh Population. AIM- The aim of our study is to search out the prevalence and to achieve more knowledge about oral normal soft tissue variations in the geriatric Chhattisgarh Population and possibly identify new avenues of research in this area. METHOD- It is a Prospective and observational correlation study, performed in an exceedingly period of two years from 2015-2017 within the Department Of Oral Medicine and Radiology at Chhattisgarh Dental College and Research Institute, Rajnandgaon, (Chhattisgarh), India. It included the patients of age 60 years and above of Chhattisgarh Population. RESULT- The most prevalent normal variation in this study was found to be fissured tongue 46% followed by coated tongue (20%), depapilation of tongue (20.3%), Melanosis (9.7%), lingual varicose (1.4%), leukoedema (1.1%), Fordyce's granules (0.7%) and geographic tongue (0.14%). CONCLUSION- The present study renders sufficient information about the epidemiologic aspects of oral mucosal normal variation in the geriatric population which may prove valuable in the planning of future oral health strategies of this group of the Indian population. This will further enhance community programs to educate the elderly population, along with the younger generation to get the elderly screened for any deviation from these variations or any oral mucosal lesions by availing adequate clinical and pathological laboratory facilities, which will ensure a good quality of life in this population of interest.