J Dent Oral Biol | Volume 8, Issue 2 | Review Article | Open Access

Adverse Consequences of Areca Nut Consumption on Oral Hygiene, Advances in Molecular Pathology, and Early Diagnostics

Chatterjee P1*, Banerjee A2,3 and Chatterjee A2,4*

132 Smiles Multispecialty Dental Clinic, BTM 1st Stage, Banglore, India
2Department of Biotechnology & Bioinformatics, Molecular Genetics Laboratory, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong,
India
3Department of Zoology, Samastipur College, Bihar, India
4School of Biosciences, The Assam Royal Global University, Guwahati, India

*Correspondance to: Puja Chatterjee 

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Abstract

Areca Nut (AN) is the most commonly used psychoactive substance in many parts of Asia and in Asian migrant communities throughout the world. The harmful effects of AN with or without tobacco on oral soft tissues have been studied extensively. The active components responsible for the adverse impact of AN are primarily alkaloids, polyphenols and tannins. A higher incidence of periodontal diseases in AN chewer with and without tobacco is observed. The clinical attachment loss of AN chewers was significantly higher, and the plaque index was considered a strong contributing factor. Several studies indicated a causal association between AN/betel-quid chewing habits and oral mucosal disorders such as leukoplakia, submucous fibrosis and cancer. Besides oral, the incidence of cancers in the esophagus, liver, stomach and pancreas was also seen among AN chewer. This review is intended to discuss the various adverse consequences of AN consumption on oral hygiene comprehensively and highlights recent advances in molecular pathology and biomarker-based disease diagnostics. The host-derived biomarkers particularly, immune responsederived biomarkers, can be routinely analyzed in order to obtain a chair-side early diagnosis of periodontal diseases. Upregulation of Securin and occurrence of premature anaphase separation were observed in human blood lymphocytes in cancer patients and in non-cancerous persons who consume AN/tobacco. Using periodontal and cancer biomarkers, it is possible to intercept oral diseases and cancers at a very early stage, when tissue lesions are not yet clinically detectable.

Keywords:

Periodontal diseases; Oral cancer; Biomarkers; Gingival crevicular fluid; Early diagnosis; Single nucleotide polymorphisms; Precocious anaphase

Citation:

Chatterjee P, Banerjee A, Chatterjee A. Adverse Consequences of Areca Nut Consumption on Oral Hygiene, Advances in Molecular Pathology, and Early Diagnostics. J Dent Oral Biol. 2023; 8(2): 1211. ISSN: 2475-5680.

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