A CLINICAL AUDIT OF ORAL PATHOLOGIC LESIONS AT A TEACHING HOSPITAL IN KARACHI

Abstract

Clinical audits can be conducted globally, nationally or locally depending on where oral healthcare is offered. The aim of the study was to report oral pathologic lesions presented in the outpatient department at Fatima Jinnah Dental College & Hospital in the period of four years from Jan 2017 to- Dec 2020. To find its association with gender, age, intra-oral site, year of presentation, mouth opening, and clinical diagnosis. This is a descriptive study which was conducted at Fatima Jinnah Dental College & Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. The researcher used a nonprobability sampling method. The ethical approval was taken from the Ethical review committee of the Institute. The data were analyzed through SPSS version 20.0 software. P-value of < 0.05 was considered significant.

Out of 651 patients, there were 362 (55.6%) men and 289 (44.4%) women. The average age was 35.3±14.4. The peak age group was between 20 and 40 years (56.4%). Oral submucous fibrosis was the most commonly diagnosed pathologic condition (28.6%) followed by traumatic ulceration (8.4%), oral squamous cell carcinoma (6.5 %), oral lichen planus (4.8 %) and fibrous epulis (4.5 %). The buccal mucosa (51.92%) appeared to be the most prevalent site. Tobacco use in one way or another was linked to the most prevalent oral pathologic lesions (31.2%). The most frequent oral pathologic lesions among female patients were immune-mediated lesions (70.9%) and reactive hyperplastic lesions (58.4%). It entails educating and empowering individuals to utilize the best practices for optimal oral health care in order to prevent oral disease as much as possible.