Quantitative analysis of agnor counts of buccal mucosal cells of chewers and non chewers of gutkha: A comparative cytologic study

Aims and Objectives: The present study was taken up to evaluate the AgNOR counts in the buccal mucosa cells of gutkha chewers and compare that with the sex-matched controls. Materials and Methods: In all, 100 gutkha chewers and 50 sex-matched non-chewers (controls) were chosen. None of the patients in both groups had any clinical oral lesions or systemic diseases. After rinsing with 0.9% sodium chloride, cytologic smears were prepared and stained using the AgNOR method and observed in immersion oil at 1000 × magnification. Finally, 50 cells were selected at random; AgNOR dots were counted and their mean was recorded. The student t-test was used for analysis of data. Results: Comparison between mean AgNOR counts of gutkha chewers (2.68 ± 0.23) and non-chewers (2.01 ± 0.14) was found to be statistically significant. Conclusion: Cytology associated with AgNOR staining can effectively detect the early molecular changes within buccal mucosa cells of oral mucosa.