5: Oral Cavity Malignancy
The oral cavity contains numerous structures which can develop malignancy, which are nearly always squamous cell carcinomas due to smoking, alcohol and/or human papillomavirus virus infection. In general, small oral cavity malignancies can be treated with either surgery or radiotherapy with equivalent survival outcomes. Surgery may have an advantage in some situations from a morbidity perspective (eg. hemiglossectomy is less morbid that xerostomia, osteoradionecrosis and so on). Each site of disease is considered separately.
