Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is a complex, collagen-related metabolic disorder that is mainly caused by chronic areca nut consumption. This lesion is classified as a ‘potentially premalignant oral epithelial lesion (PPOEL)’, which has the potential to regress if detected in its early stages. This study aimed to analyze the prevalence of clinical symptoms among OSMF patients visiting a dental institution and to explore the relationship between specific symptoms and the severity of disease progression. Retrospective data from 155 OSMF patients were collected and analyzed over one year. The prevalence of OSMF in different age groups and genders was examined using SPSS software. A Chi-square test was used to determine the association between gender and primary symptoms, as well as between the distribution of symptoms and disease grading. The results showed that 91.89% of the affected individuals were male, while 8.11% were female. The most frequently reported symptoms were a burning sensation (35.1%) and restricted mouth opening (35.1%), followed by cheek pain (18.9%) and oral ulcers (10.8%). Notably, symptomatic cases were only observed in stages 2, 3, and 4, according to the classification of Kerr et al. While there was no statistically significant association between gender and specific symptoms (P = 0.63, P > 0.05), a significant association was found between symptom distribution and disease grading (P = 0.0001, P < 0.05). These findings suggest that OSMF patients experience significant symptoms only in advanced stages, thereby increasing the complexity of treatment and patient care.
