This document provides definitions and descriptions of key terminology used in oral pathology. It discusses general terms like provisional diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and final diagnosis. It also covers clinical examination terms involving inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation. Additionally, it defines histologic terms used to describe microscopic findings like hyperkeratosis, acanthosis, dysplasia and anaplasia. The document aims to provide standardized terminology for communication, documentation, description and classification in the field of oral pathology.

1. Terminologies used in
Oral Pathology

2. Terminology/ Nomenclature
 Communication
 Documentation
 Description
 Classification/ categorization

3. Types
 General terms
 Clinical terms
 Histologic terms

4. Definition
Maximum expression in
minimum words

5. General terms

6. Provisional diagnosis
Diagnosis arrived at after
history taking and clinical
examination but before any
investigations.
Preliminary educated
assumption or guess as to the
nature or status of the
condition prior to the analysis

7. Differential diagnosis
Process of identifying a
particular disease process by
differentiating it from all other
pathologic processes that may
have similar signs and
symptoms or clinical course

8. Final Diagnosis
Diagnosis arrived after all the
data (History, clinical
examination and investigations )
has been collected, analyzed
and subjected to logical thought.

9. Prognosis
Prediction of the course,
duration and termination of a
disease and the likelihood of its
response to treatment

10. Investigations
Steps undertaken to confirm a
diagnosis which was established
following case history taking and
physical examination.

11. Laboratory Investigations
Extension of physical
examination in which tissue,
blood,urine, saliva or any other
specimen is obtained from the
patients body and subjected to
microscopic, biochemical,
microbiological or immunological
examination

12. Clinical terms

13. Inspection
Systematic visual
assessment of the patient

14. Palpation
Method of examining with the
hands using the sense of
touch

15. Percussion
Technique of striking the
tissues with the fingers or an
instrument so that the
examiner may listen to the
resulting sounds or note the
response of the patient to
such action

16. Auscultation
Technique of listening to
sounds produced in the body
using a stethoscope.

17. Lesion
Morphologically altered
tissue with objective signs of
disease

18. Symptom
Any change in the body or its
function that is perceptible to
the patient and may indicate a
disease.
Eg : Pain

19. Sign
Any change in the body or its
function that is perceptible to
a trained observer and may
indicate a specific disease.
Eg : Tenderness

20. Hypersensitivity
Exaggerated response to any
stimulus which otherwise
would not have caused the
same degree of response.

21. Abscess
Acute
inflammatory
reaction
localized within
the tissue and
associated with
tissue
destruction and
liquefaction as

22. Cellulitis
Acute inflammation which
spreads diffusely through the
tissue spaces and along
tissue planes and usually
suppurative in nature.

23. Exudate
It is the edema fluid
produced by certain
inflammatory reactions having
a higher specific gravity
(1.020 or higher) and a
higher protein content (1-6
gm/dl)

24. Transudate
It is the edema fluid produced
by certain noninflammatory
conditions having a low
specific gravity and a low
protein content

25. Macule
Well
circumscribed
flat area of
altered
coloration
varying in size
from a pinhead
to several cms

26. Macule

27. Macule/Patch

28. Papule
Small well
circumscribed
solid,elevated
lesion less than
5 mm in
diameter

29. Nodule
well
circumscribed
solid,elevated
lesion more
than
5 mm in
diameter

30. Nodule

31. Plaque

32. Vesicle
Small well
circumscribed
fluid filled lesion
less than 5 mm
in diameter

33. Bulla
well
circumscribed
fluid filled lesion
larger than 5
mm
in diameter

34. Bullae

35. Pustule
well
circumscribed
pus filled
lesion
smaller than 5
mm
in diameter

36. Erosion
Break in the
epithelium
extending to
but
not involving
the basal cell
layer

37. Erosion

38. Ulcer
Break in the continuity
of the entire epithelium
with the resultant
exposure of the
underlying connective
tissue

39. Ulcer

40. Sinus
•
Blind tract which connects a
cavity lined by granulation
tissue to the epithelial surface

41. Fistula
•
Communication between two
epithelium lined surfaces
Example:
Oro antral fistula

42. White lesion
•
Abnormal area of oral mucosa
which appears whiter than the
surrounding tissue and is usually
slightly raised, roughened or of a
different texture than the adjacent
normal tissue.

43. Keratotic White Lesion
•
White lesion of the oral cavity
which cannot be removed by
rubbing or scraping

44. Non Keratotic White Lesion
•
White lesion of the oral cavity
which can be removed by rubbing
or scraping

45. Premalignant lesion
•
Morphologically altered tissue
in which cancer is more likely
to occur than its apparently
normal counterpart
Eg: Leukoplakia

46. Premalignant Condition
•
Generalized state associated with
significantly increased risk of
developing cancer
Eg: Iron deficiency anemia

47. Hamartoma
• Tumour
like malformation
characterized by the presence of
particular histologic tissues in
improper proportions or distribution
with a prominent excess of one type
of tissue.
Eg: Haemangioma

48. Teratoma
•
True neoplasm made up of a number
of different types of tissues that are
not native to the area in which the
tumour occurs.

49. Choristoma
•
Microscopically normal cells present
in abnormal location
Eg: Fordyces granules

50. Neoplasm
•
Abnormal mass of tissue, the
growth of which exceeds and is
uncoordinated with that of the
normal tissue and persists in the
same excessive manner even after
the cessation of the stimulus that
evoked the change

51. Hypertrophy
•
Increase in the size of an organ or
tissue due to an increase in the
size of the cells
Example: Masseteric hypertrophy

52. Hyperplasia
•
Increase in the size of an organ or
tissue due to an increase in the
number of the cells
Example: Gingival hyperplasia

53. Hypoplasia
•
Incomplete development of an
organ or tissue
Example: Enamel hypoplasia

54. Aplasia
•
Complete failure of formation of
organ/tissue
Example: Condylar aplasia

55. Atrophy
•
Decrease in the size of an organ or
tissue after complete formation
Example: Papillary atrophy

56. Pedunculated

57. Pedunculated

58. Sessile

59. Sessile

60. Diffuse

61. Coalescing

62. Exophytic

63. Firm

64. Cheesy

65. Hard

66. Histologic terms
•

67. Hyperkeratosis
Thickening of the stratum corneum

68. Acanthosis
Thickening /Widening of the
stratum spinosum

69. Spongiosis
Intercellular edema

70. Acantholysis
Separation of cells in stratum
spinosum resulting in
intraepithelial split

71. Dysplasia
Irregular, atypical proliferative
changes in the epithelium in
response to chronic irritation or
inflammation

72. Anaplasia
Reversal of highly differentiated
cells into a less differentiated type

73. Metaplasis
• Is the reversible replacement of one
differentiated cell type with another mature
differentiated cell type

74. Metastasis
• Metastasis is a complex process that
involves the spread of a tumor or cancer to
distant parts of the body from its original
site

75. Mutation
• A relatively permanent change in
hereditary material involving either
a physical change in chromosome
relations or a biochemical change
in the codons that make up genes