Oral medicine: 3.ulcers: cancer

Specialist referral may be indicated if the Practitioner feels:

Oral cancer is the most common malignant epithelial neoplasm affecting the mouth. More than 90% is oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) (Table 1).

Cancers of the oral cavity are classified according to site:

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is among the ten most common cancers worldwide and seems to be increasing. The number of new mouth (oral) and oropharyngeal cancers are currently estimated to be 300,000 cases world-wide, amounting to around 3% of total cancers. The mortality rate is just over 50%, despite treatment. In the UK, the total number of recorded cases of oral cancer is around 5400 per annum (Figure 1), with around 1700 deaths mainly due to late detection. The incidence appears to be rising in the UK and many other countries. In the UK, there was a 17% increase in cases of oral cancer from 3,673 (1995) to 4,304 (1999). Scotland has about double the incidence rate of oral cancer compared with England.