ABSTRACT
The oral cavity and oropharynx are two major subsites in the head and neck region for squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) as reported in a 15-year study of the National Cancer Database (NCDB) from 1990 to 2004. These two sites consistently represented roughly 25% of head and neck cancers throughout the 15-year study, but the proportion of oral cavity cancers declined slightly from 1990 to 2004, accounting for 13.5% and 11.3%, respectively. On the other hand, the percentage of oropharyngeal tumors increased slightly from 12.0% to 13.7% (1). Although the incidence of oral cancer is decreasing (2), unfortunately, there has only been a marginal improvement in survival (3).
