Oral Melanin Pigmentation in HIV Sero-Positive Patients in Southern India

1Ragas Dental College & Hospital, Chennai, India, 2YRG CARE, Chennai, India

Objective: To analyze the oral melanin pigmentation (OMP) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) sero-positive patients in Chennai, South India.

Methods: Cross-sectional study of 3406 HIV sero-positive patients attending Ragas –YRG CARE, Chennai, India, from February 1996 to December 2008. Patient history and clinical findings were recorded in a pre-structured case sheet. Data entry and analysis was done using SPSS11.0.5. p<0.05 was considered significant. .

Results: Of the 3406 patients examined (2466 males, 937 females, and 3 hijras), OMP was seen in 20.9% (712; 572 males, 140 females). Prevalence of OMP was10.36%, 9.75%, 6.75%, 4.25%, 1.17%, 0.97%, 0.91%, 0.53%, 0.47%, and 0.23% in tongue-dorsum, buccal mucosa, hard palate, tongue-lateral border, soft palate, alveolar mucosa, tongue-ventral surface, labial mucosa, floor of mouth and vestibular mucosa respectively. Prevalence of OMP was highest in 51-60 age group (28.4%). Of the 712 subjects with OMP 15% were non smokers, 18.3% were current smokers, 30.6% were ex-tobacco smokers, 23.8% were anaemic, 0.1% were on ART, and 18.7% were on HAART. There was a statistically significant difference in the occurrence of OMP between males and females (p=0.00), smokers compared to non-smokers (p=0.00), and those on ART and not on ART (p=0.001). Our results also showed that haemoglobin levels had a significant association with the occurrence of OMP.

Conclusion: After excluding the racial factors, our data suggests that further studies will have to be done to ascertain oral pigmentation significance.