Background: Oral cancer is the 11th most common cancer in the world, with an estimated 300,000 new cases and 145,000 deaths in 2012. In India, 20/100,000 population are affected by oral cancer, which accounts for around 30% of all types of cancer. Most cases of oral cancer are associated with habits (tobacco/areca nut) and are preceded by asymptomatic clinical lesions collectively referred to as oral potentially malignant disorder (OPMD). OPMDs include leukoplakia, erythroplakia, reverse smoker's palate, erosive lichen planus, oral submucous fibrosis, lupus erythematosus and actinic keratosis. Hence; the present study was conducted for assessing apoptotic index in various grades of oral epithelial dysplasia. Materials & Methods: A total of 100 cases of oral epithelial dysplasia were enrolled. Complete demographic and clinical details were obtained from all the cases. A diagnosis was made with formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded, and histopathology. Slides were examined using microscope at both 10 x and 40× magnification. Calculation of AI was done as several apoptotic bodies/a total number of cells in one field which is expressed in percentage. Apoptotic bodies appeared as a round oval mass of intensely eosinophilic cytoplasm with fragments of dense nuclear chromatin. Results: Mean apoptotic index among cases with mild, moderate and severe dysplasia was 1.51, 2.13, and 3.74 respectively. Significant results were obtained while comparing the apoptotic index among cases with different histological dysplasia grading. Conclusion: Apoptotic index could be used as an adjuvant for histological grading of oral epithelial dysplasia.