Oral squamous cell carcinoma in patients with and without predisposing habits in glossal and extra-glossal site: An institutional experience in South India

INTRODUCTION: We report our cohort of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients with or without predisposing habits in glossal and extraglossal sites. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of OSCC cases over a period of 13.75 years from the archives of Ragas Dental College and Hospital, Chennai, India. Demographic details, site, details of habits, and grade of OSCC were retrieved. Social Package for Social Service version 17.0 was used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, and comparison of mean were employed appropriately. RESULTS: There were 151 OSCC cases, of which 60.9% (92/151) were males, 21.2% (32/151) were aged ≤40 years and 27.82% (42/151) occurred in the tongue. The glossal to extraglossal site ratio was 1:2.6. Predisposing habits were present in 52.4% of glossal OSCC and 82.6% with extra-glossal sites (P = 0.000). Besides tobacco, exclusive areca nut chewing was observed in 15.23% (23/151) patients. Thirty-nine (25.8%) belonged to non-tobacco, non-areca nut, non-alcohol (NTND) group with male to female ratio was1:3. DISCUSSION: In our cohort, 112 of 151 OSCC (74.8%) had at least one predisposing habit. Chewing of areca nut alone was a predisposing habit by itself. In addition, there was a small, subset of cases that were not associated with history of any habits. This study brings to focus the subsets of OSCC predisposed by areca nut and NTND, that needs to be studied further.