Clinical implications of recent exodontia before diagnosis of gingival squamous cell carcinoma: A new classification.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the clinical implications of cases with recent dental extractions to establish a new classification of gingival squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). A total of 156 patients were enrolled in this study. The subjects were divided into 3 groups: type I (dentate; n = 46), type II (edentulous; n = 55), and type III (dental extraction; n = 55). Continuous clinical and treatment variables were analyzed by 1-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) or t test, and categorical variables were evaluated by chi-square tests. Assessment of 5-year survival rates were carried out by the Kaplan-Meier analysis, and the influence of related factors was evaluated by the log-rank test. The 55 type III patients showed a high probability of bony invasion (80%) and a lower 5-year survival rate (48%) than the other 2 groups. Our proposed classification may help clinicians to identify patients with gingival SCC who present with more advanced disease status.