Snus (nass) and oral cancer: A case series report
A 53-year-old female presented for routine examinations with his general dental practitioner, complaining of a sore area on the right side of the buccal mucosa, present for about 4 weeks. The patient had hypertension for the past 10 years and had become addicted to opium 15 years previously. She had a snus habit from 5 year ago in the right mandibular vestibule with no alcohol consumption. The practitioner diagnosed a leukoplakia and the patient was referred to the dental school for biopsy. In the intraoral examination, a 5 cm-diameter white verrucous area extended from the right buccal mucosa into the alveolar ridge, which was tender to palpation. The tissue proximal to the lesion was erythematous and atrophic in appearance with indurations [].\nThe lesion was biopsied and histological examination of the excised soft tissue showed features of a early squamous cell carcinoma with some cell degeneration, keratin pearls, nests and cords of malignant epithelial cells with wide cytoplasm, round or oval nuclei, with prominent nucleoli and mitotic figures [].\nThe patient underwent total excision of the lesion with reconstruction using a split skin graft. At 3-year follow-up the patient was free from the disease.