An update of oral potentially malignant disorders and their malignant transformation into oral cancers in Taiwan.

Dear Editor,

This letter is in reference to an interesting article that we read in the recent issue in Journal of Dental Sciences by Ma et al. regarding the bibliometric analysis of oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs). The authors indicated the historical perspective, key topics, and trends of further research of OPMDs which could provide the merits in this research field.

Clinically, oral cancer may be preceded by OPMDs such as oral submucous fibrosis (OSF), oral lichen planus (OLP), and oral leukoplakia (OL). In Taiwan, alcohol drinking, betel quid chewing, and cigarette smoking, the so-called ABC, are the most important risk factors of OPMDs and oral cancers. Recently, we have reported the prevalence of OPMDs and their malignant transformation rates from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. The annual prevalence rate of OSF (0.0083% in 1996 to 0.0162% in 2013) and OLP (0.0013% in 1996 to 0.0128% in 2013) significantly increased from 1996 to 2013, respectively., For malignant transformation, OSF exhibited a significantly higher risk for malignant transformation into oral cancer during 13-year follow-up period. OL played a synergistic role for OSF malignant transformation. In addition, OL patients demonstrated a higher risk for malignant transformation into oral cancer than those without OL. Moreover, both OSF and OLP could increase malignant transformation in patients with OL.

Taken together, the prevalence of OPMDs and malignant transformation rate in Taiwan were significantly increased during past 18 years. These findings raise the alert of the hazard of oral health. From the results of this bibliometric analysis, Taiwanese researcher should pay more efforts in the studies of OPMDs for oral health promotion, medical decisions, and policy making.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest relevant to this article.