Finding Leukoplakia: The Dentist's Window of Opportunity

India has the dubious distinction in accounting for almost half of all oral cancer cases in the world. Ironically, out of all cancers, Oral Squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most preventable cancers that occur in people where the patient simply has to make a definite life style choice (to use or not to use tobacco) to reduce the risk of its occurrence. General Dentist can play an important role in prevention and in early recognition of signs and prompt referral of patients. This review will focus particularly on early identification of Leukoplakia in dental practice and is an update about the influence of internal and external environmental factors associated with pre cancer stage, recognizing the clinical spectrum of Leukoplakia for identifying individuals at greater risk and provide suggestions for instituting a realistic plan for clinical follow up and performing opportunistic screening.

KEYWORDS: Oral Potentially malignant disorders, Leukoplakia, Pre-Cancer screening, opportunistic screening.

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