While the prevalence of oral carcinoma is destined to remain largely unaltered, further efforts should be directed towards early detection of this disease. Medical and dental schools should ensure that their graduates are skilled in oral examination and can recognize both malignant and pre-malignant lesions. The general practitioner of medicine or dentistry will be unlikely to encounter a large number of patients with a malignant oral neoplasm during his career. When this does occur, the recognition of such lesions and provision of prompt and appropriate action can be tantamount to saving the patient's life. Breast self-examination education programs can have a corollary in the oral cavity.
Most oral lesions are asymptomatic.
However, the tongue being so mobile and sensitive in the mouth, makes it a good tool of self-examination. The oral cavity is easily accessible for visual examination and, therefore, without the aid of any sophisticated methods, oral cancer can be detected in its early stages. The detection of this disease in its early stages constitutes an important face of prevention. Oral cancer prevention can be attempted at a primary as well as a secondary level, in clinics, at hospitals, and in large population groups. In primary prevention the risk for cancer development is reduced by avoiding the exposure to tobacco.