Understanding Oral Cancer: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment

What is oral cancer?

Oral cancer is an abnormal and uncontrolled growth of cells that come from the mucosa that lines the oral cavity (the tissue of the lips or tongue and the floor of the mouth or in the salivary glands, the lining of the cheeks, gums and the palate). Malignant cells can invade nearby or distant tissues and organs and ultimately, if left untreated, cause death.

Head and neck cancers are the sixth most common human cancers. Oral cancer constitutes 48% of these cancers and represents 3% of all cancers that affect the entire body.

Oral cancer affects, in Spain, 8 out of every 100,000 people a year. Spain is one of the European countries with the most cases and with one of the highest mortality rates.

This high mortality is due to the fact that 85% of oral cancers are diagnosed in advanced stages, a reason that darkens the prognosis. Only 15% of cases are diagnosed in the early stages.

About 90% of oral cancers are diagnosed in people over 40 years of age, and more than 50% in individuals over 65 years of age.

Men are affected with a frequency between three and five times higher than that of women, although this relationship is gradually decreasing. The cause of this reduction is attributed to changes in lifestyles, mainly in the consumption of tobacco and alcohol.

The most common type of oral cancer is the so-called epidermoid or squamous cell, reaching 90% of oral cancers. The remaining 10% encompasses a wide variety of malignancies: melanoma, minor salivary gland adenocarcinoma, malignant odontogenic tumors, maxillary sinus cancer, Langerhans cell histiocytosis, Kaposi's sarcoma, lymphomas, leukemias, myeloma, and metastases.

Risk factor's

The most important predisposing factors are alcohol and tobacco use.

90% of patients with oral cavity carcinoma are smokers. The risk of developing oral cavity cancer in a smoker is 6 times higher than that of a non-smoker.

The combined abuse of alcohol and tobacco exerts a multiplier effect on the risk of developing oral cavity cancer. This risk is approximately 15 times higher in the consumer of alcohol and tobacco.

Excessive sun exposure, like any part of the body, can cause lip cancer.

There are other factors that have been related to the appearance of oral cancer such as poor oral hygiene, the use of defective dental prostheses, viral infections, nutritional deficiencies, etc.

There are other precancerous oral lesions such as:

Leukoplakia: A condition characterized by a whitish plaque that develops inside the mouth or throat. 25% of leukoplakia turn into cancer.

Erythroplasia: A condition characterized by a raised, red plaque that develops inside the mouth. 70 percent of erythroplasias have been found to be cancerous on biopsy, according to the American cancer Society.

Symptoms

The most frequent locations are the floor of the mouth and tongue, while the location on the lower lip is undergoing a gradual increase.

The most common form of presentation of oral cancer is a mass or an ulcer.

Additional symptoms that may be associated with this disease are: abnormal taste in the mouth, mouth ulcers, difficulty swallowing.