Non-Invasive Approaches for Oral Potential Malignant Disorders Surveillance: A Review

Oral potential malignant disorders (OPMDs), a series of local diseases with carcinogenic potential occurred in oral mucosa, have the possibility of developing into oral cancer. Effective diagnosis and surveillance at the early stage of OPMDs may be of help for interrupting the malignant transformation. In this review, we introduced the available non-invasive approaches of detecting the suspicious lesions, including vital staining, oral cytology, optical detection, saliva biomarkers detection, and image analysis, which can enhance the detection efficiency for the early diagnosis and surveillance of OPMDs. However, limitations which restrict the clinical application of these approaches still exist. How to improve the sensitivity and specificity of these techniques deserves further detailed study.