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Updated: Aug 7, 2026
Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Pain complaint as the first symptom of oral cancer: a descriptive study
Linneu Cuffari1, José Tadeu Tesseroli de Siqueira, Katia Nemr
1Oral Surgery, Dental School of Universidade Bandeirante (UNIBAN), São Paulo, Brazil.
Objective:
To identify pain as the initial symptom of oral cancer patients.
Study Design:
Hospital charts of 1412 patients (1977 to 1998) with oral cancer were reviewed (238 female and 1174 male).
Results:
Pain was the initial complaint in 19.2% of the sample. Oral cancer (ratio 4:1) and initial pain (ratio 9:1; P= .001) was prevalent in men. There were 12 different complaints of pain: sore throat (37.6%), tongue pain (14.0%), mouth pain (12.9%); pain when swallowing (11.1%), dental pain (5.9%); earache (5.9%); pain in the palate (4.1%); burning mouth (3.3%); gingival pain (2.2%); pain when chewing (1.1%); neck pain (1.1%), and facial pain (0.7%). Pain was associated with advanced TNM staging and location of tumor in the tongue (P= .004) and the tongue/mouth floor (P< .006).
Conclusion:
There were 12 different descriptions of pain; pain was related to TNM staging in the tongue and the tongue/mouth floor. The data presented reinforce the suggestion that patients with orofacial pain need systematized evaluation and sometimes require an interdisciplinary approach.
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