RESUMO
Oral cancer it a pathology of multifactorial etiology, where some factors such as age, sex, race, genetic predisposition, nutrition, and the use of tobacco and alcohol have a bearing on. In the last years, some authors showed the implication of the human papilloma virus (HPV) in the development of precarcinogenic lesions and of oral squamous cell carcinoma. The infection by HPV has been associated to hyperplastic epithelial lesions, papilloma and warty carcinoma in skin and in different types of mucosa, including the anus-genital, cervical, urethral, tracheobronchial, nasal, laryngeal and oral mucosa tracts. The viral high-risk geno-types (oncogenic) such as 16, 18, 31, 33 and 35 are frequently associated to leukoplakia and squamous carcinoma. An association of HPV with oral squamous carcinoma in patients that consume tobacco and alcohol has been fundamentally established. It is important to study and to frequently review the role that viral infections and cancer have, and maybe in the future, it would be possible to create a vaccine that diminishes the frequency of oncological problems.