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ISSN: 2763-5724 / Vol. 04 - n 04 - ano 2024
location at the base of the tongue.
The main sign of this type of cancer is the appearance of mouth ulcers that do not heal
within a week. Other signs are supercial ulcerations less than 2 cm in diameter and painless, which
may or may not bleed, and whitish or reddish spots and plaques on the lips or oral mucosa. Diculty
speaking, chewing, and swallowing, in addition to marked weight loss, pain, and the presence of
cervical lymph node enlargement are signs of advanced oral cancer (MS, 2024).
In 1976, Krolls, Homan16 published an analysis of 14,253 cases of squamous cell carcinomas,
nding 42% on the lips, 22% on the tongue, 17% on the oor of the mouth, 6% on the gums, 5% on the
palate and 2% on the jugal mucosa. As for gender, 93% correspond to males and only 7% to females.
Regarding race, 92.6% were Caucasian and 5.2% melanoderma. Regarding age, 86.8% of the cases
were between the fth and ninth decades of life.
Squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity is the result of the interrelationship of three
factors: the agent, the host, and the environment. Thus, a considerable number of factors related to the
human host and the environment in which it lives may be related to the predisposition to malignant
neoplasms (Garrafa, 1977). Two points should be emphasized in relation to risk factors: rst, the same
factor may be a risk factor for several diseases and second, that several risk factors may be involved in
the genesis of the same disease, constituting multiple causal agents. The study of risk factors, isolated
or combined, has allowed the establishment of cause-eect relationships between them and certain
types of cancer (MS, 2024).
Most cancer cases (80%) are related to the environment, in which we nd a large number
of risk factors. The environment is understood as the environment in general (water, land and air),
the occupational environment (chemical industries and the like), the consumption environment
(food, medicines), the social and cultural environment (lifestyle and lifestyle habits) (MS, 2024). For
Tommasi (1982), whatever the cause of cancer, especially in the mouth, it begins on previous lesions
caused by local causes associated with general causes. These lesions are considered cancerous.
The histopathological classication of oral cancer has been shown to be an important tool