What is Leukoplakia?
The term Leukoplakia doesnt describe a specific disease but a clinical observation. Clinically Leukoplakia looks like a white patch which cannot be removed. It can have different surfaces such as smooth, fissured, varicous or speckled. Risk factors of Leukoplakia are the “6 s”
- Smoking
- Spirit
- Sharp tooth( traumatic origin)
- Spicy food
- Syphilis
- Sepsis (specifically candida infection and human papilloma virus).
Beside the etiological factors above a Vitamin A deficiency can cause a Leukoplakia as well.
Leukoplakia can be differentiated in 4 clinical stages based on its size an 5 stages based on its histopathological status which are:
- No dysplasia
- Mild dysplasia
- Moderate dysplasia
- Severe dysplasia(with high risk to be transformed to oral cancer)
- Squamous cell carcinoma in situ with a poor prognosis and high letality