90% of all oral cancers are of a type called Squamous cell carcinoma, which means that they derive from squamous cells which are the type of cells that make up the pink mucosa that lines the mouth. Laryngeal cancer (cancer of the vocal cords) is also generally caused by squamous cell carcinoma, and is also associated with heavy smoking. Most oral cancers tend to happen on the floor of the mouth or the sides and undersurface of the tongue. They also tend to be relatively painless during their early development. The image to the right shows a rather advanced cancer on the side of the tongue. (Click the image to see a larger version, as well as some other rather scary examples of oral cancer.) Note the mottled white and red appearance of the growth. As you will see, this is an important characteristic of these cancers.
It is interesting to note that squamous cell carcinoma is NOT USUALLY one of the more virulent cancers, and yet it kills about half of those that get it. This is an important point since if it is diagnosed at a reasonably early stage (within the first year, or in some cases within the first two years--The earlier, of course, the better), it can generally be removed before it becomes locally invasive or spreads to other parts of the body and becomes a death dealing issue. Why would anyone let a problem like this progress until it is this large? (Click the image for more info on why this one got so big.) Why does does such a slow growing cancer have such a large mortality rate? (Mortality rate is the measure of the ratio of those who contract the disease to those who die from it. In the case of Squamous cell carcinoma, the mortality rate is about 50%, meaning that approximately half the people diagnosed with it will eventually die as a direct result of the cancer, or from complications associated with it.)
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