Incidence rates are more than twice as high in men as in women and are greatest in men who are over age 40. An estimated 8,440 deaths in 1997. Mortality rates have been decreasing since the mid-1980s. Difficulty in chewing, swallowing, or moving tongue or jaws are often late symptoms. Dentists and primary care physicians have the opportunity, during regular checkups, to see abnormal tissue changes and to detect cancer at an early, curable stage.
Principal methods are radiation therapy and surgery.
In advanced disease, chemotherapy may be useful as an adjunct to surgery. Seventy-nine percent of oral cavity and pharynx cancer patients survive one year after diagnosis.