Abstract

  Khat or Qat (Catha edulis) is a plant growing in East Africa and southern Arabia. Millions of people worldwide chew the leaves and twigs of this tree for its stimulating amphetamine like effects. Furthermore, migration has resulted in the rise in the number of Khat chewers across the United States and Europe.

  Long-term khat chewing has several detrimental general and oral health effects. The aim of the essay is to elucidate the oral and dental effects of khat use, with particular emphasis on its link with oral keratotic white lesions and oral cancer as well as oesophageal cancer. Khat is associated with several oral and dental conditions, including keratotic white lesions, mucosal pigmentation, periodontal disease, tooth loss, plasma cell stomatitis, and xerostomia.

  The objectives of this essay therefore are to educate and update health professionals on khat use and its associated oral adverse effects with particular emphasis on its link with oral keratotic white lesions and oral cancer. This has been undertaken in light of the absence of substantial literature on such associations and to provide a context that could be used to identify themes for future research.

Keywords: Khat; Oral Mucosa; Dental Health; Oral Cancer; Oesophageal Cancer

References

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Citation

Citation: Divya Dhananjay Singh. “Khat - Its Effects and Associations with Oral Health and Oral Cancer”. Acta Scientific Clinical Case Reports 1.2 (2020): 18-20.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Divya Dhananjay Singh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.