Authors : Adarsh Sunil Patil, Alka B Nerurkar, Payal Soni, Parimal Patel
DOI : 10.18231/j.ijmr.2019.041
Volume : 6
Issue : 3
Year : 2019
Page No : 186-189
Introduction: Tobacco chewing is a serious oral health problem in India responsible for halitosis, periodontitis, sub mucus fibrosis, leukoplakia and oral cancer. There is a need to understand the oral microbiological changes in tobacco chewers.
Aim and Objective: To find out the changes in oral microbiota in tobacco chewing patients and patients with associated oral cancer.
Materials and Methods: A case control study on 102 patients was conducted over a period of 2 months. Case group included subjects with tobacco chewing habits and presence of leukoplakia and oral cancer while control group included subjects with no tobacco chewing habits. Oral swabs collected were microscopically examined and grown on routine culture media- Blood Agar, Nutrient Agar and McConkey’s Agar. After obtaining the complete data of different bacteria isolated, a statistical analysis was made comparing the isolates from case and control group.
Results: Streptococci spp. and Coagulase Negative Staphylococcispp (CONS) forms a part of normal oral flora, which was found in 79% of the control isolates but only in 49% of the case isolates. This result of normal flora being reduced in case group was statistically significant (p<0> group, other species- Enterococci, Pseudomonas and Klebsiella were found in only 21% of control isolates while 51% of cases showed such result but Acinetobacter spp, Proteus spp and Citrobacter freundii were also isolated.
Conclusion: Tobacco chewing is associated with a disruption of normal oral flora and a consequent increase in other organisms making the oral cavity more prone to ailments.
Keywords: Oral flora, Tobacco chewers.