Swetaa A and Vivek Narayan*
Oral cavity is constantly being exposed to many stimuli which can irritate the oral mucosa leading to a variety of hyperplastic reactions. Reactive hyperplastic lesions (also called RHLs) are tumorlike hyperplasia produced in response to chronic irritation or trauma. These hyperplastic lesions simulate non-neoplastic proliferations. The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence of reactive hyperplastic lesions in the oral cavity. This is a retrospective study. All the data were taken from the patient archives of the dental institute. Patients with a wide age range were included. A total of 700 patients were included in the study. All the necessary information was collected and entered in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and subsequently transferred to SPSS version 23.0 for statistical analysis. Chi square tests were employed to find the association between different variables and p < 5 % was considered statistically significant. The study was done in an institutional setting. The prevalence of the reactive lesions were found to be 79.14 %. A male predilection was seen for the reactive lesions. The 26 - 45 year age group was more prone for reactive hyperplastic oral lesions. Patients in their 2nd to 4th decades of life tend to neglect / ignore certain persistent irritants present in the oral cavity which leads to reactive lesions. Hence more patient awareness about the reactive hyperplastic lesions must be spread by the dental professionals so as to curtail the rising number of these lesions.
