Prevalence of fungal hyphae in potentially malignant lesions and conditions-does its occurrence play a role in epithelial dysplasia?

Background: Oral cancer is a major public health problem in India. A key factor that has led to lack of improvement in prognosis of oral cancer over the years, is delay in diagnosis and treatment. In many instances, a significant proportion of oral squamous cell carcinomas develop from premalignant lesions and conditions.