Oral Cancer Information
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What is Oral Cancer?
The oral cavity includes many parts: the lips; the lining inside the lips and cheeks, called the buccal mucosa; the teeth; the bottom (floor) of the mouth under the tongue; the front two-thirds of the tongue; the bony top of the mouth (hard palate); the gums; and the small area behind the wisdom teeth. Salivary glands throughout the oral cavity make saliva, which keeps your mouth moist and helps you to digest food.
Excluding superficial skin cancers, but including cancer of the larynx and thyroid, it is conservatively estimated that about 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with head and neck cancer annually. That's about five percent of all cancers diagnosed in the United States. There are more than 500,000 survivors of oral, head and neck cancer living in the United States today.
If you have been diagnosed with oral cancer, your care team at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) may include an oral surgeon; an ear, nose and throat surgeon; a medical oncologist; a radiation oncologist; a prosthodontist; a general dentist; a plastic surgeon; a dietitian; a care manager; a naturopath; a nurse; and a speech therapist, among other clinicians.
Types of Oral Cancer
The different types of oral cancer include:
- Squamous cell carcinomas account for 90 percent of oral cancers, and develop in the thin, flat squamous cells that form the lining of the mouth and throat. In its early stages, the cancerous cells are found only on the outermost layer of cells (carcinoma in situ). As the disease progress, the cancer may grow deeper into the underlying tissues of the oral cavity.
- Verrucous carcinomas are a rare variant of squamous cell carcinoma--less than 5 percent of oral cancers are verrucous carcinomas (VC). And although this is a slow-growing (low-grade) cancer that does not often metastasize (spread to other parts of the body), there is the possibility that, over time, VC will grow deep into surrounding tissue.
- Minor salivary gland carcinomas are cancers that develop in the glandular tissues in the mouth. There are three major salivary glands in the mouth: parotid glands, submandibular glands and sublingual glands. The majority of malignant salivary gland tumors occur in the parotid glands. And there are different types of salivary gland carcinomas including mucoepidermoid carcinoma, polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinoma and adenoid cystic carcinoma.
- Lymphomas can form in the immune system tissue found at the base of the tongue or in the tonsils.
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