Introduction: Oral cancer is usually diagnosed when it becomes symptomatic and approximately two thirds of the patients present with the advanced disease, regional metastasis and consequently poor prognosis. The risk of development of carcinoma within an area of premalignant lesion is 5 times higher than in those without lesion. Malignant transformation has been reported in 43% of dysplastic leukoplakia cases. It is therefore important to identify these lesions early, for early management.

Aim: To compare the diagnostic efficiency of Rose Bengal (RB) with Toluidine blue (TB) in

detecting the biopsy sites and thus establish an accurate diagnosis in detecting oral potentially malignant disorders.

Materials And Methods: In our study 27 patients with 41 lesions were included. Since one patient had not quit the habit in the two weeks following initial examination and another patient lesion disappeared in the waiting period, 2 patients (3 lesions) were not included in the study. After initial examination they were subjected to Rose Bengal and Toluidine blue stain. Positively stained lesions were subjected to biopsy and assessed for dysplasia. All the data were tabulated and statistically analysed in SPSS software version v.22.IBM, corp. Chi square test was done to compare the difference between two stains.

Results: When compared with TB staining RB showed 100% Sensitivity, 90% specificity, 96.6% positive predictive value and 100% negative predictive value.

Conclusion: Based on the results and other observations made during the study it could be suggested that RB could be used as an alternative to TB clinically. Further studies with large samples are recommended to support the evidence of this study.

Dr. Anisha R Yaji