The Oral Mucosa and Langerhans Cells in Smokers

Download or read book The Oral Mucosa and Langerhans Cells in Smokers written by Suan Phaik Khoo and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study was carried out to investigate whether smoking had any effect on the Langerhan cells in the oral mucosa, which might throw light on to the mechanism of malignant transformation of some keratotic lesions in the oral cavity. Smokers were associated with a significant reduction in the Langerhan cell population compared to non-smokers. The mean values of Langerhan cell density in light smokers and heavy smokers were 18.64/mm2 and 33.421mm2 respectively compared to 66.51/mm2 in non-smokers. There was a dose-response relation between the number of cigarette smoked daily and the effect on cell counts. These findings of a local immunological effect of smoking on oral epithelium may explain the means by which cigarette smoking contributes to the development of oral cancer.