Cancer is one of the significant dangers to general wellbeing in the
developed world and increasingly in the developing world. In developed
countries, cancer is the second most frequent reason for death. Oral
cancer generally incorporates cancer of the lip, tongue, salivary
glands, and other sites in the mouth; while pharyngeal cancer includes
cancers of the nasopharynx, oropharynx, and hypopharynx. Over 90% of
oral or pharyngeal cancers are squamous cells in inception. The
malignancy epidemic is because of the combined effect of the aging of
populations, and the elevated or rising levels of prevalence of cancer
risk factors. Precisely tying trends in cancer incidence to alter the
risk or protective behaviors would necessitate national databases that
focus on particular age groups, account for the numerous interactions
between behavioral and demographic risk factors, and factor in the
substantial lag time between exposure to risk or protective factors and
the ultimate occurrence of disease.