Oral Manifestations With Tissue Alterations of Nas or Pan Consumption: A Case Study in Bandar Abbas (Iran) in 2018

Background: Smokeless tobacco (ST) refers to tobacco products that are used by a means other than smoking such as snuff, chewing tobacco, nas, and betel quid (pan). There is little understanding of the oral manifestations with tissue alterations of nas or pan consumption. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the oral manifestations in nas and pan consumers in Bandar Abbas, Iran, to raise the awareness of individuals and predict the associated risks and treatment strategies. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study carried out on 160 patients who referred to the dental clinic of the dentistry school at Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences in the winter of 2018. Clinical examination was performed using periodontal sound, periodontal probe, mirror, wooden tongue blade, and sterilized gauze under standard unit light. A checklist was prepared and utilized to gather the demographic statistics and other data from the contributors. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 23, and the significance level was considered 0.05. Results: The participants comprised 145 (90.69%) males and 15 (9.37%) females. The average age of participants was 37.28±12.05, of which 60 patients (37.5%) had tissue alterations due to substance use. The majority of those with tissue alterations (68.33%) had superficial lesions with a color analogous to the surrounding mucosa with negligible wrinkling and without apparent thickening. Further, individuals with lower income had greater oral lesions significantly (P=0.016). The mean age of individuals with tissue changes was higher than those without tissue changes, but this difference was not significant (P=0.114). Conclusion: Tissue alterations in men were greater than those in women, but this difference was not significant. Lower income was significantly related to greater oral lesions. This might be due to various factors such as a lack of oral health literacy or a lack of access to financial resources for taking care of their oral health.