Trends in frequency and prevalence of oral cancer and oral squamous cell carcinoma in mexicans. A 20 years retrospective study

Objective. To establish the time trends of the frequency and prevalence of oral cavity cancer in regard to age and gender in a 20-years (time period 1989 ? 2008) cohort of Mexicans. Design and Setting. 13,235 head and neck biopsies from the archive of the Oral Pathology Laboratory, Dental School, National Autonomous University of Mexico were revised. The cases with diagnoses of oral cancer were selected. Gender and age at diagnosis was obtained from medical records. The frequency and prevalence of oral cavity cancer and oral squamous cell carcinoma were assessed biannually in regard to the total number of population served by the oral pathology laboratory. The statistical significance of tr…