[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-376310-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-376310-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","oral-leukoplakia-still-an-enigmatic-disorder","Oral leukoplakia: still an enigmatic disorder","","Oral leukoplakia is presented as the most frequent and representative oral potentially malignant disorder within oral precancer. The review synthesizes epidemiological, pathogenetic, diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic evidence, emphasizing that despite long-standing descriptions, the condition remains controversial. Results highlight open questions on epidemiology, multifactorial and multistage pathogenesis, definitions, diagnosis, malignant progression, and treatment. The conclusion calls for well-designed prospective studies using agreed clinicopathological criteria.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/","Healthcare",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/oral-leukoplakia-still-an-enigmatic-disorder/376310/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/oral-leukoplakia-still-an-enigmatic-disorder/376310.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Ben ","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-01","2026-09-24",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",10,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"Why is oral leukoplakia described as enigmatic?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Oral leukoplakia is considered enigmatic because key aspects remain uncertain, including why and how it develops, why and how it malignizes, how it can be prevented, and how it should be treated.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What topics does the review cover about oral leukoplakia?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The review is a narrative and integrative synthesis covering terminology and history, etiopathogenic mechanisms, clinical features, histopathology, diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic approaches.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What does the review say about epidemiology and prevalence?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"The review reports that the real epidemiology is still unclear, with heterogeneous reported prevalence values and an overall prevalence around 3.41%, influenced by population factors and diagnostic criteria.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},376310,1790529049,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,110,115,120,123,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":122},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":125},"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":107,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":102,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144},2336478951081,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","Journal section: Oral Cancer and Potentially malignant disorders  \nPublication Types: Review  \nOral leukoplakia: still an enigmatic disorder  \nJosé Manuel Aguirre-Urizar 1  \ndoi:10.4317/medoral.27214  \n1 Emeritus Professor of Oral Medicine and Pathology. Department of Stomatology. Faculty of Medicine and Nursing. University of the Basque Country/EHU. Leioa. Spain  \nCorrespondence:  \nDepartment of Stomatology. Faculty of Medicine and Nursing University of the Basque Country/EHU  \nBarrio Sarriena s/n. 48940 Leioa. Bizkaia. Spain josemanuel.aguirre@ehu-eus  \nReceived: 10/02/2025  \nAccepted: 18/02/2025  \nAguirre-Urizar JM. Oral leukoplakia: still an enigmatic disorder. Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2025 Sep 1;30 (5):e730-5.  \nArticle Number:27214 [http://www.medicinaoral.com/](http://www.medicinaoral.com/)  \n© Medicina Oral S. L. C.I.F. B 96689336-pISSN 1698-4447-eISSN: 1698-6946 [eMail: medicina@medicinaoral.com](eMail: medicina@medicinaoral.com)  \nIndexed in:  \nScience Citation Index Expanded  \nJournal Citation Reports  \nIndex Medicus, MEDLINE, PubMed Scopus, Embase and Emcare Indice Médico Español  \nAbstract  \nBackground: Oral leukoplakia is the most frequent and representative potentially malignant disorder of what is known as oral precancer. Since the first descriptions, this pathology, which initially seems simple, has been the subject of controversy and discussion, and it still maintains multiple unknowns and enigmas to be solved. Material and Methods: A narrative and integrative review of the epidemiological, pathogenetic, diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic aspects of this important oral disorder has been carried out.  \nResults: Oral leukoplakia still presents multiple enigmas regarding its actual epidemiology, its multifactorial and multistage pathogenesis, its definition and diagnosis, its malignant development and its treatment.  \nConclusion: We must conduct well-designed prospective studies on this fascinating oral pathology, on well-diagnosed clinical cases with clinicopathological criteria agreed and accepted by the scientific community. Only in this way will we be able to clarify the enigmas it still presents.  \nKey words: Oral leukoplakia, enigma, pathogenesis, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment.  \nIntroduction  \nOral leukoplakia (OL) is the most frequent and emblematic oral potentially malignant disorder (OPMD). After two centuries being described as such, we still have to consider it ‘enigmatic’, as it still holds many uncertainties regarding very important aspects like: why and how it develops?, why and how it malignizes?, how it can be prevented?, how it should be treated? .....  \nMy first contact with OL was almost 50 years ago, during my pathology residency before becoming a stomatologist, looking under the microscope at ‘oral keratoses’ and ‘oral epidermoid carcinomas’, as we then called them. It was through the preparation of a lecture given by my wife that I learned about the work of Pindborg, Kramer, Silverman, van der Waal, Warnakulasuriya and other great masters. Since then, OL has  \nbeen a very important part of my work as a healthcare professional, clinician, pathologist, university lecturer and researcher.  \nOL is undoubtedly the most representative OPMD. To contextualize its importance, we need only refer to its potential consequence, oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), which in the 21st century still shows high morbidity and an unacceptable mortality. A significant percentage of these carcinomas will develop through OL. Therefore, proper diagnosis and management of OL is essential to improve the prognosis of oral cancer (1). Oral diseases are as old as humankind and their characteristics have been described for a long time. However, there are no specific references to OL until the 19th century, when Professor Schwimmer, in 1877, made the first publication on: ‘idiopathic mucous plaques of  \nthe oral cavity: oral leukoplakia’ (2). From that moment on, the clinicopathological and scientific develo","cbCaig2aYfeeRcqq","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaig2aYfeeRcqq","pdf",337049,"English","# Abstract\n## Background\n## Material and Methods\n## Results\n## Conclusion\n# Introduction\n# Material and Methods\n# Results\n## Epidemiological aspects\n## The etiopathogenesis","[{\"question\":\"Why is oral leukoplakia described as enigmatic?\",\"answer\":\"Oral leukoplakia is considered enigmatic because key aspects remain uncertain, including why and how it develops, why and how it malignizes, how it can be prevented, and how it should be treated.\"},{\"question\":\"What topics does the review cover about oral leukoplakia?\",\"answer\":\"The review is a narrative and integrative synthesis covering terminology and history, etiopathogenic mechanisms, clinical features, histopathology, diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic approaches.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the review say about epidemiology and prevalence?\",\"answer\":\"The review reports that the real epidemiology is still unclear, with heterogeneous reported prevalence values and an overall prevalence around 3.41%, influenced by population factors and diagnostic criteria.\"}]","Oral leukoplakia: still an enigmatic disorder | PDF",1790218170,15]