Background: The practice of betel nut chewing with or without tobacco is still practiced in south india, salem inspite of its harmful effects.
Methodology: 200 Patients visiting the outpatient department, Oral medicine and radiology from Aug 2015 to Aug 2016.
Result and conclusion: In our study, 3 women were exclusively churut smokers. Thirty-eight percent of the dental patients were beedi smoker, 32% were tobacco chewers, 12% were both betel nut and tobacco chewers, 8% were exclusively betel nut chewers, 1% of the dental population were exclusively churut smokers. Mean age group of the study population is 50.2 (14.4). There are 28 females and 172 males in the study group. Chi-square test revealed a statistically significant difference (P = 0.001) between males and females based on soft-tissue findings and no statistically significant difference (P = 0.572) between males and females based on distribution of hard-tissue findings.
Keywords: Carcinoma of palatine tonsil; hairy tongue; lichenoid reaction; oral submucous fibrosis; perleche.