Management of oral submucous fibrosis by different surgical approaches: report of three cases.

Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is an insidious chronic progressive disease of the oral cavity which is considered as a precancerous condition. The suggested aetiological factor is the practice of certain customs/habits of the inhabitants of South East Asia. As the disease progresses, the oral mucosa becomes stiff due to the formation of fibrotic bands in the cheek, ultimately leading to reduced mouth opening and trismus. The early form of the disease can be treated by medicinal means, however, advance form needs surgical excision of the fibrotic tissue bands. The defect created due to the excision needs to be repaired by various grafts including split thickness skin grafting, bilateral nasolabial flaps, palatal island flaps, tongue flaps, buccal fat pad graft and temporalis muscle flap graft. We present the management of trismus following OSMF by various surgical approaches in three cases.