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Mouth and throat cancer can affect various organs in the oral cavity, including the cheeks, lips, gums, teeth, tongue, and salivary glands. Uncontrolled cell growth can lead to the formation of a mass of tissue, potentially causing oral cancer. Mouth and throat cancer are different types of cancer that affect different parts of the mouth and throat. Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common type of mouth and throat cancer, while throat cancer can also include cancer of the nasopharynx, oropharynx, and hypopharynx.
Mouth and throat cancer affects the mouth and throat area. These two organs are part of the oral cavity and have significant roles and functions such as breathing, chewing, speaking and swallowing. Organs consist of major structures including the inner lining of the cheeks, lips, gums, teeth, tongue, floor of the mouth, area behind wisdom teeth, salivary glands, upper throat , the surface of the mucous membrane, the larynx and pharynx, and the tonsils . These different tissues that make up the oral cavity are made up of building blocks called cells.
Under normal circumstances, cells in the body go through a cycle of growth and division, forming new cells as needed. As cells age, they die and new born cells take their place. Occasionally errors occur and as a result new cells are formed unnecessarily and old cells do not die. A mass of tissue is created from the excess cells, potentially leading to oral cancer.
Oral cancer can include both mouth and throat cancer. The former is caused by uncontrolled cell growth anywhere in the mouth including the lips, tongue, floor and roof of the mouth, inside the cheeks and lips, and the area at the back of the mouth, behind the wisdom tooth. The latter is caused by benign tumors that form in the pharynx, which is the hollow tube inside the neck that starts behind the nose and ends at the top of the windpipe and esophagus. Mouth and throat cancer are different types of cancer. Each type of mouth and throat cancer affects a different part of the mouth and throat.
On the one hand, mouth cancer comprises several types and more than 90% of these are squamous cell carcinomas. This type of cells are flat cells with similarities to skin, which cover the mouth. Carcinoma means cancer and squamous cell carcinoma is cancer that forms in these particular cells. A less common type of squamous cell carcinoma, verrucous carcinoma, is found in about one in twenty cases of mouth cancer, or in only 5 percent of them. Other types of mouth cancer are as follows: salivary gland cancer which starts in the salivary gland cells and are mostly adenocarcinomas; lymphoma that begins in the lymph tissue near the base of the tongue and tonsils; melanoma that starts in the pigment cells of the skin around the mouth or on the lips; and cystic adenoid cancer that develops from glandular tissue and occurs primarily in the parotid gland.
Conversely, throat cancer includes cancer of the upper part of the throat behind the nose known as the nasopharynx. The other areas that can be affected are the middle part of the pharynx, known as the oropharynx, and the lower part of the pharynx, or hypopharynx. Cancer of the larynx, commonly called the larynx, can also be included as a type of throat cancer. Like mouth cancer, most throat cancers are squamous cell carcinomas. Throat cancer is also called pharyngeal cancer.
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