Over 50% of oral cancers, when diagnosed, are beyond the
American Joint Committee for Cancer Staging and End Results’ TNM
Stage I. Consequently, there is major morbidity attributable both to
the disease and to the various forms of treatment and all health status
domains are affected. There is psychosocial disability in terms of
appearance, self-esteem and withdrawal from familial and other social
interactions. There are physical and functional disabilities in terms of
personal hygiene, swallowing and maintenance of nutritional status,
speaking and therapy-specific morbidities related to radical neck
dissection and irradiation, thyroid and parathyroid dysfunction, mouth
dryness from lack of normal secretion, osteonecrosis of facial bones
and the adverse effects of chemotherapy.