Oral Cancer: Raising Awareness of the Importance of Suspicion in Early Detection

Oral cancer is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In this article we present two cases of potentially innocuous looking lesions, initially thought to be traumatic in origin, but later diagnosed as cancer. The first patient presented with a persistent laceration thought to be caused by an accidental shaving injury, which was subsequently diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma. The second patient presented with a hyperplastic mucosal lesion, suspected as forming due to denture-clasp irritation, which was subsequently diagnosed as proliferative verrucous carcinoma. The importance of early detection and palpation of suspicious lesions is emphasised in this article.