Evaluation of Mast Cells in Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders and Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Table 1

Mast cell count using toluidine blue and Alcian blue stain among subgroups.

Group	Subgroup	Number	Mast cell count (mean ± SD)
			Toluidine blue	Alcian blue-safranin
Normal	Normal	10	4.88 ± 1.80	5.6 ± 1.94
OPMDs	Lichen planus	15	9.50 ± 6.44	11.86 ± 8.01
	Oral submucous fibrosis	15	7.6 ± 3.28	7.05 ± 2.31
	Epithelial dysplasia	15	12.55 ± 11.57	12.34 ± 8.9
OSCC	Well-differentiated SCC	23	7.38 ± 4.40	11.31 ± 6.8
	Moderately differentiated SCC	22	6.00 ± 3.34	8.25 ± 4.6