Is oral cancer common?

~35-40K cases/yr: There are about 35-40, 000 oral and pharynx cancers per year in the United States.

Depends: Depends on the type and the background of the patient. Certain types of oral cancer are more common than others. Some are more prevalent in certain ethnic groups. Certain habits (such as tobacco use) can make one more prone to oral cancer as well. The goal is to minimize your risk by eliminating as many risk factors as possible.

With some habits: Unfortunately yes because of the ever increasing use of tobacco in our society. People who have used smokeless and smoking tobacco for years are very likely to get oral cancer. Combine that with alcohol abuse and the risk increases. It seems that teens and young adults are smoking more than ever even with everything we know about tobacco use. Not only oral cancer will result, but lung and others.

Oral cancer: Recently, certain viruses have been found to cause oral cancer. Oral cancer is more common in countries like china and india. In United States, they are less common than breast and lung cancer.