Statistics and outlook for mouth cancers

This page has quite detailed information about the survival rates for different stages of mouth and oropharyngeal cancer. Because saying mouth and oropharyngeal cancer is a bit long, we've tended to just say mouth cancer in the text. But this page includes information about both these types of cancer.

We have included information about statistics because many people ask us for this kind of information. But not everyone who is diagnosed with a cancer wants to read it. If you are not sure whether you want to know at the moment or not, then perhaps you might like to skip this page for now. You can always come back to it.

There is a section with detailed information about different types of cancer statistics in the CancerHelp UK section about cancer statistics. Unless you are very familiar with medical statistics, you may find it helpful to read this before you read the information below.

Remember that statistics are averages based on large numbers of people. They cannot predict exactly what will happen to you. No two patients are exactly alike and the response to treatment also varies from one person to another.

Doctors often use the terms 5 year survival or 10 year survival when talking about outlook. This does not mean that you will only live 5 or 10 years. It relates to the number of people who are alive 5 or 10 years after their diagnosis of mouth or oropharyngeal cancer. Doctors follow what happens to people for at least 5 years after treatment in any research study. This is because there is only a small chance of the cancer coming back more than 5 years after treatment. Doctors do not usually like to say that these people are cured because there is that small chance. So they use the term 5 year survival instead.

Outlook by stage

As with many other types of cancer, the outcome for mouth cancer depends on how advanced your cancer is. In other words, the stage and grade of your cancer. The outlook for mouth cancers also depends on which part of the mouth or oropharynx is involved. The statistics below are general and some combine all stages and types of mouth cancers. Where we have them, we have listed 5 year survival rates for specific kinds of mouth cancer but these are not available for all types. For information tailored to your particular cancer you will need to talk to your own specialist.

Survival rates for mouth cancers have risen slightly over the last 20 years. Of all the people diagnosed with cancer of the mouth and oropharynx, about 55 out of every 100 (55%) live for at least 5 years. For oropharyngeal cancer alone, about 35 out of every 100 diagnosed (35%) will live at least 5 years. Rates for individual mouth cancers include

• Lip cancer – nearly 90 out of 100 people diagnosed (89%) will be alive 5 years later
• Tongue cancer – just over 50 out of 100 people diagnosed (50%) will be alive 5 years later
• Oral cavity – this includes all other mouth cancers (not lip or tongue) and nearly 50 out of every 100 people diagnosed (47%) will be alive 5 years later

It is important to know that we have not included 5 year survival rates for individual stages of these cancers. Because these cancers are quite rare, it is difficult to get reliable figures. Generally speaking, the earlier a cancer is found and treated, the better the outcome is likely to be. So, 5 year survival rates for the early stages (stage 0, 1 and 2) of these cancers will be higher than the overall statistics. And the statistics for the later stages (stage 3 and 4) will be lower.

Several studies have reported that people with mouth or oropharyngeal cancer who have HPV have a better outlook than people who do not have HPV. We need more research to see how HPV can be used to predict the outcome for people with these cancers.