Early Diagnosis of Oral Cancer: A Review

Oral cancer (OC) is a global burden. India has become the epicentre of OC globally. As clinicians we are responsible for recognizing and detecting early or incipient changes of the oral mucosa, because, inspite of numerous advances in the treatment of OC, 5-year survival rate remains only 50%. This poor prognosis is due to several factors. However, single most effective route to improving the long-term outcome of OC is early diagnosis. Dentists must be keenly aware of oral mucosal alterations; any observed suspicious mucosal abnormality must be sampled using biopsy. A variety of commercial diagnostic aids and adjunctive techniques are available to potentially assist in the screening of healthy patients, for evidence of otherwise occult cancerous change or to assess the biologic potential of clinically abnormal mucosal lesions. This article is aimed at helping the clinicians, about the various aids or adjuncts that can be used in OC detection; a systematic review of the literature by way of descriptive design was used.