Comparative Study of Clinical Staging of Oral Submucous Fibrosis with Qualitative Analysis of Collagen Fibres Under Polarized Microscopy

Background & Objectives: Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is a condition where excessive deposition of dense collagen fibers occurred in the connective tissue of oral mucosa. An alteration of collagen necessitates an in depth understanding of collagen in oral tissues as no breakthrough studies have been reported. Therefore the aim was to correlate the clinical, functional and histopathological staging and to analyze the polarization colors and thickness of the collagen fibers in different stages of OSMF using picrosirius red stain under polarizing microscopy so as to assess the severity of disease. Methods: The study was conducted in the department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology at Padm. Dr. D. Y Patil Dental and Hospital, Navi Mumbai, India (2012-13). A sample size was of a total 40 subjects, of which 30 patients had OSMF, and 10 were in control group. Clinical, functional and histopathological staging were done depending upon definite criteria. Collagen fibers were analyzed for polarizing colors and thickness. Further clinical, functional and histopathological stages as well as qualitative parameters of collagen fibers were compared. Results: The correlation  between  clinical and functional staging was not significant (P>0.05) whereas the comparison of the functional staging with histopathological staging was more reliable (P<0.01) as an indication to the severity of the disease rather than clinical staging. One-way ANOVA analysis showed highly significant correlation between functional staging and polarization colors and thickness of collagen fibers (P<0.001). Conclusion: The  qualitative  change  in  the  collagen  fibers  of  OSMF  patients  using  polarized microscopy would help to assess its role in diagnostic evaluation, to determine the prognosis of the disease as well as to provide useful predictive treatment modalities to them.