ABSTRACT
Oral cancer is one of the most debilitating and disfiguring of all malignancies, it is the sixth most frequently occurring cancer, with 274,000 new cases in 2002 worldwide. Two - thirds of them occurring in men. a descriptive cross-sectional study was executed on a sample of 877 of oral squamous cell carcinoma and salivary gland tumors. The data was collected from the medical records of 5 centers in Baghdad [College of Dentistry, University of Baghdad, Department of Oral Pathology, Specialized Surgical Teaching Hospital; Teaching Laboratories; Al-Wasity Hospital and the Nuclear Medicine and Radiation Hospital]. The diagnosis of individual tumor was based on the World Health Organization latest version of International Classification of Diseases for Oncology [10[th] revision]. The selected tumors were analyzed according to patient's identifying information [age, gender, occupation, address, cancer family history and smoking habit] and tumor site. A total of 877 cases were analyzed [479 male and 398 female with male to female ratio 1.2:1]. The tongue was the most commonly affected site [27.6%], followed by salivary glands [17.1%] and buccal mucosa of cheek [14.7%], The peak onset of selected tumors seen in age group between 40-64 years old [54.3%]. The male was affected more than female and the tongue was the most commonly affected site