Research Article Screening of Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders Using Exfoliative Cytology: A Diagnostic Modality Arpita Kabiraj, 1 Tanya Khaitan, 2 Debarati Bhowmick, 3 Uday Ginjupally, 4 Aritri Bir, 5 and Kushal Chatterjee 6 1 Department of Oral Pathology & Microbiology, Haldia Institute of Dental Sciences and Research, Haldia, West Bengal 721645, India 2 Department of Oral Medicine & Radiology, Haldia Institute of Dental Sciences and Research, Haldia, West Bengal 721645, India 3 Department of Periodontics, Haldia Institute of Dental Sciences and Research, Haldia, West Bengal 721645, India 4 Department of Oral Medicine & Radiology, Kamineni Institute of Dental Sciences, Narketpally, Andhra Pradesh 508254, India 5 Department of Biochemistry, IQ City Medical College, Durgapur, West Bengal 713206, India 6 Department of Dentistry, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College & Hospital, Kalyani, West Bengal 74123, India Correspondence should be addressed to Arpita Kabiraj; arpita.kabiraj82@gmail.com Received 8 June 2016; Accepted 1 September 2016 Academic Editor: Kentaro Nakayama Copyright © 2016 Arpita Kabiraj et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objective. Oral exfoliative cytology (OEC) has been implemented in the diagnosis of pathologic lesions for ages. Te present study was undertaken to evaluate the cytomorphological features of some of the commonest potentially malignant disorders (leukoplakia, lichen planus, and oral submucous fbrosis) through a simple procedure and illustrate its importance in mass screening. Materials and Method. A total of 160 subjects with 25–50 years of age were included in the study. Among them, 40 were clinically diagnosed with oral leukoplakia, 40 were diagnosed with oral lichen planus, 40 were diagnosed with oral submucous fbrosis, and 40 were in the control group. Te prepared smears were subjected to Papanicolaou stain and analyzed microscopically for the evaluation of the cytomorphological features. Results and Discussion. When analyzed microscopically, 36 (90%) out of the 40 oral leukoplakic lesions showed Class II cytological features whereas 4 (10%) revealed Class I features. Among 40 patients with oral lichen planus, 26 (65%) showed Class II features while the remaining 14 (35%) revealed Class I features. In 40 subjects with oral submucous fbrosis, 32 (80%) showed Class II features while the other 8 (20%) showed Class I features. All the 40 control subjects showed Class I features. Tus, OEC can be widely advocated as an addition to clinical conclusion and an adjunct to biopsy. 1. Introduction Oral mucosa exhibits a rapid turnover of cells and these exfoliated cells play an imperative role in diagnosis of poten- tially malignant disorders. Oral cavity refects the various events occurring in the body which is revealed by the cytomorphological and nucleomorphological variations in these exfoliated cells [1]. Oral exfoliative cytology (OEC) is the microscopic exam- ination of exfoliated cells from an epithelial surface. It is a simple, noninvasive, and sensitive staining technique used as an adjuvant for biopsy or in cases where biopsy is not feasible as well as mass screening [2]. Literature suggests that oral cytology may be helpful for detecting potentially malignant disorders or early carcinoma in asymptomatic patients with lesions that appear benign. Early detection of such lesions increases the endurance and decreases the morbidity of such patients. Te features of cytological atypia usually observed in such disorders include cellular and nuclear pleomorphism, nuclear bud- ding, hyperchromatism and micronuclei, infammatory cells, indented cellular outline, and intracytoplasmic vacuoles [3]. Considering this background, the present study was under- taken to evaluate the cytomorphological features of some of the commonest potentially malignant disorders through Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Cancer Epidemiology Volume 2016, Article ID 8134832, 4 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/8134832