ABSTRACT
Cancer of the oral cavity is one of the 10 most common cancers in the world. The incidence rates of cancers of the oral cavity in India are some of the highest in the world. Epidemiological data have unequivocally proven that tobacco usage, whether chewed, dipped, or smoked, is the major source of intraoral carcinogens on a global scale, with smokeless tobacco, in particular chewing tobacco, responsible for majority of oral cancers observed in southern Asia. Alcohol use is an independent risk factor in oral cancers, as well as a potentiating factor for tobacco-related carcinogenesis. Dietary factors may play a part in development of oral cancers. The development of oral cancer has been suggested to occur as a result of field cancerization, the exposure of an entire field of tissue to repeated carcinogenic insult, which predisposes the field to the development of multiple cancers.
