The various smokeless tobacco habits practiced throughout the world include tobacco chewing and snuff dipping. Smokeless tobacco products have been linked to precancerous and cancers of oral cavity for long. The aim of the present study was to record various mucosal lesions associated with smokeless tobacco usage and to ascertain the prevalence of dysplasia in them by histopathological evaluation and to see the extent of disease seen among patients associated with a habit of smokeless form of tobacco. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 112 patients with the clinical diagnosis of smokeless tobacco related lesions were selected. A detailed description of the clinical presentation of the lesion was noted and the patients were subjected to incisional biopsy followed by a histopathological evaluation. RESULTS: 38 (33.93%) of the patients were confirmed cases of Carcinoma followed by 23 (20.54%) with OSMF and 20 (17.86%) with aphthous ulcers. Rest of the final diagnosis were distributed wide. We found that buccal mucosa was the most commonest site of lesion with the incidence of about 37.5% followed by tongue among 20.54%. Pre-malignant lesions was found among 74 (66.07%) patients included in our study where as 38 (33.93%) patients found with maliganant lesions. CONCLUSION: Thus, the study highlights the role of detecting oral mucosal lesions and screening high-risk patients on a regular basis and also reaffirms the importance of public education, stressing the risk factors for oral cancers.

Keywords : SMOKELESS TOBACCO, ORAL MUCOSAL LESIONS, PREMALIGNANT LESION, ORAL CARCINOMA