Research Article Oral Lesions Induced by Chronic Khat Use Consist Essentially of

Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objectives.Thehabit of khat chewing is prevalent inmanyMiddle Eastern andAfrican cultures and has been associatedwith various adverse conditions in humans. This study aimed to describe histological changes induced by chronic khat chewing on the buccal mucosa.Methods. Biopsies of the buccal mucosa from 14 chronic khat chewers, 20 chronic khat chewers who also smoked tobacco, and 8 nonchewers were compared for epithelial thickness, degree and type of keratinization, and connective tissue changes. Results. Tissues from khat chewers depicted abnormal keratinization of the superficial cell layer and showed increased epithelial thickness affecting all layers. Epithelial thickness in control samples was 205 ± 2