The evaluation of the number of mast cells in oral lichen planus

oral lichen planus is diagnosed according to clinical and histopathological characteristics.some times all of the classical  histopathological features can not be seen.in some articles the presence of mast cells have been noted below the epithelium of oral lichen planus patients.the following study was done to evaluate the number of mast cells in the histopathological sections of 20 oral lichen planus patients.all of the approved histopathological samples of oral lichen planus were stained with giemsa stain and their mast cells were counted.the mean value and standard deviation of the number of the mast cells in oral lichen planus patients were 47.75+_38.04 in the test and 2.4+_3.57 in the control group respectively.these values were statistically significant(p<0.001).special staining for the mast cells of oral lichen planus sections may be considered as another histopathological criteria for the diagnosis of oral lichen planus.