Effects of alcohol on the morphological and structural changes in oral mucosa

Objective: to investigate the morphological and structural changes of oral mucosa under the influence of alcohol. methods: sixty male and female specimens (42 males and 18 females) who died of chronic alcoholism were selected in this study. the specimens (5-7 mm) were sliced by the morphological-histological detection method, and stained by the he and spielmeyer (myelin staining) protocols respectively. then five immune peroxidase chemical reaction tests were performed. results: 10% of the tissue sections had epithelial hyperplasia points with hyperkeratosis and acanthosis. 90% of the sections had epithelial atrophy points with different degrees of damage, and had moderate infiltration of lymphocytes-macrophages in the basal oral mucosa simultaneously. for the tissue sections of patients who died of cardiovascular diseases with a history of alcoholism, about a half showed that extensive necrotic points were observed in different parts of oral mucosa, accompanied by a secondary infection. approximately 15% of the sections had more dense and homogeneous necrotic tissues with microbial colonization, and the necrotic focus of 5% of the sections was located above the epithelial tissue, which was not distinctively different from other tissues. 48% of the sections were subjected to small nerve bundles with jeopardized deep oral mucosa, accompanied by necrosis of neuron axon and its myelin membrane. conclusion: the findings of this study show that drinking alcohol over an extended time may lead to carcinogenic changes in oral mucosa.