A Review of Oral Submucousal Fibrosis, Related Factors, Prognosis and New Therapeutic Approaches

Abstract   BACKGROUNackground and AIMD & AIM: Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSF) is an oral premalignant condition with highest premalignant potential  among oral precancerous lesions which characterized with inflammation and  progressive fibrosis of  submucosal oral tissues (cause to significant irreversible rigidity and trismus). During the years, many classification systems have been proposed  in medicine literatures  on basis clinical, functional and  histopathological  aspects.This review study was done with aim of  assessment and presentation of proper classification systems to the physicians  use  in therapeutic centers  for early diagnosis, disease progression and proper treatment plan for OSF patients. Material & methods: Research was done in pubmed, Google scholar, science direct, web of sciences and Scopus databases and totally ,30 articles were selected. Results: The study resulted in a new and appropriate classification system covering all aspects of the disease including clinical, functional, histological, treatment and prognosis. Also pathogenesis and  new management of OSF  have been discussed. Conclusion:  Attempts to provide and update the knowledge of Submucous fibrosis classification system to assist clinicians, can be useful in researches and classifying this potentially malignant disease and help greatly in the early diagnosis, proper management and reduction of morbidity and mortality of the disease. Keywords: Areca nut, oral submucous fibrosis, oral cancer