Quantitative analysis of agnor counts of buccal mucosal cells of chewers and non chewers of gutkha: A comparative cytologic study.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The present study was taken up to evaluate the AgNOR counts in the buccal mucosa cells of gutkha chewers and compare that with the sex-matched controls.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In all, 100 gutkha chewers and 50 sex-matched non-chewers (controls) were chosen. None of the patients in both groups had any clinical oral lesions or systemic diseases. After rinsing with 0.9% sodium chloride, cytologic smears were prepared and stained using the AgNOR method and observed in immersion oil at 1000 × magnification. Finally, 50 cells were selected at random; AgNOR dots were counted and their mean was recorded. The student t-test was used for analysis of data.

RESULTS

Comparison between mean AgNOR counts of gutkha chewers (2.68 ± 0.23) and non-chewers (2.01 ± 0.14) was found to be statistically significant.

CONCLUSION

Cytology associated with AgNOR staining can effectively detect the early molecular changes within buccal mucosa cells of oral mucosa.