Awareness of Oral Submucous Fibrosis among the Quid-Chewing South-Asian Expatriates in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

ABSTRACT Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is a chronic disorder prevalent in South and Southeast Asia and is mainly related to the habit of chewing betel quid. Although there are numerous South-Asian studies about OSF, there is no study that evaluates the awareness of OSF among expatriate populations of South-Asian origin. Evaluated the awareness of OSF among South-Asian expatriate patients reporting to a dental hospital in Sharjah. Prevalidated questionnaires were given to 150 expatriate patients of South-Asian origin with quid-chewing habit reporting to the teaching clinics of a dental hospital in the United Arab Emirates. Among the 150 patients, 103 responded to the questionnaire. Among the 103 respondents, 11.65% were aware of OSF. Respondents living in shared residency and labor camps had significantly (P = 0.43) lower awareness of OSF compared to respondents living with their families. The results of our study show that the awareness of OSF is lower among the respondents living in labor camps and shared residencies. The younger respondents had more awareness of OSMF and were more likely to quit the quid-chewing habit.