Oral cancer: how to recognize the danger signs.

Oral cancer remains a challenge to clinicians. Early treatment results in excellent cure rates and minimal functional disability. However, patients with advanced-stage disease often require extensive surgical procedures and adjuvant therapy. Despite radical treatment, survival rates are low and morbidity is high. Detection of oral cancer at an early stage, when it is most amenable to treatment, is an important goal. Only with continued education of the public and of healthcare providers, including primary care physicians and dentists, can this goal be achieved.