Etiopathogenesis of Oral Submucous Fibrosis

The oral cavity is the site of many diseases. An adequate diagnosis is essential as these lesions may vary in nature from simple to life threatening ones. The oral mucous membrane is a unique tissue which is continuously exposed to various kinds of stress such as heat, cold, microorganisms, chemicals & mechanical irritations, in the process of food intake. In response to these stress, both epithelial and connective tissue layers of oral mucosa exhibit acute & chronic reactive changes. Oral submucous fibrosis is a chronic, progressive, scarring disease, that predominantly affects the people of South-East Asian origin. Condition was first describe by Schwartz (1952) while examining five Indian women from Kenya, to which he described the term "atropia idiopathica tropica mucosae oris". Later in 1953, Joshi from Bombay (Mumbai) redesignated the condition as oral submucous fibrosis.