What are the key statistics about oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers?

The American Cancer Society's most recent estimates for oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers in the United States are for 2012:

• About 35,000 people will get oral cavity or oropharyngeal cancer.
• An estimated 6,800 people will die of these cancers.

These cancers are more than twice as common in men as in women. They are about equally common in blacks and in whites.

The rate of new cases of this disease has been dropping overall in the past few decades. However, there has been a recent rise in cases of oropharyngeal cancer related to infection with human papilloma virus (HPV) in white men under the age of 50 .

The death rate for these cancers has been decreasing since the late 1970s.

Oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers occur most often in the following sites:

• The tongue (about 25% to 30%)
• The tonsils (about 15% to 20%)
• The minor salivary glands (about 10% to 15%)

The rest are found in the lips, gums, the floor of the mouth, and other sites.

The average age of most people diagnosed with these cancers is 62, but they can occur in young people. They are rare in children, but about one-third occur in patients younger than 55.

The rates of these cancers vary among countries. For example, they are much more common in Hungary and France than in the United States and much less common in Mexico and Japan.

When patients newly diagnosed with oral and oropharyngeal cancers are carefully examined, a small portion will have another cancer in a nearby area such as the larynx (voice box), the esophagus (the tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach), or the lung. Some who are cured of oral or oropharyngeal cancer will develop another cancer later in the mouth, throat, or other nearby areas. For this reason, patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer will need to have follow-up exams for the rest of their lives. They also need to avoid using tobacco and alcohol, which increase the risk for these second cancers.

For statistics related to survival, see the section "Survival rates for oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer by stage."