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Oral Leukoplakia

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Premalignant Conditions of the Oral Cavity

Part of the book series: Head and Neck Cancer Clinics ((HNCC))

Abstract

Oral leukoplakia (New Latin leuko, white, + classical Greek plax, flat object) is said to represent the most common premalignant oral mucosal lesion with an estimated global prevalence rate of 2.6%. Historically, practitioners have used many synonyms such as leucoma, smokers’ patch, leukokeratosis and ichthyosis for this lesion. In 1851, Sir James Paget documented a connection between a white keratotic oral lesion and lingual carcinoma; however, the term “leukoplakia” has given rise to considerable misunderstanding since it was first defined more than 140 years ago by the dermatologist Ernst Schwimmer in 1877 [1].

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Nair Hospital Dental College, Mumbai, India

    Rajiv S. Desai & Ravikant S. Ganga

  2. Department of Otolaryngology Head Neck Surgery, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, UK

    Raghav C. Dwivedi

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  1. Rajiv S. Desai
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  2. Ravikant S. Ganga
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  3. Raghav C. Dwivedi
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, UK

    Peter A. Brennan

  2. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, UK

    Tom Aldridge

  3. Department of Otolaryngology, Head Neck Surgery, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, UK

    Raghav C. Dwivedi

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© 2019 Peter A. Brennan, Tom Aldridge, Raghav C. Dwivedi, Rehan Kazi

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Desai, R.S., Ganga, R.S., Dwivedi, R.C. (2019). Oral Leukoplakia. In: Brennan, P., Aldridge, T., Dwivedi, R. (eds) Premalignant Conditions of the Oral Cavity. Head and Neck Cancer Clinics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2931-9_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2931-9_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-2931-9

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