Oral cancer in India: need for fresh approaches.

Oral cancer is a major health problem in India, afflicting nearly one-third of the total cancer population. The main etiologic factor is the traditional habit of tobacco chewing. Approximately 90% of Indian oral cancers are tobacco related, the possibility of developing the lesion being ten times higher if the habit is formed below the age of 14 years. Public awareness about tobacco-related oral cancer is low at present, and new approaches to this problem should include education in the schools on oral cancer, formulation of legislative action to ban the sale of tobacco near schools and colleges, and imposition of societal "barriers" that would make the nonchewing of tobacco socially more acceptable than chewing it. The combined effect would be an increased public awareness against tobacco. In addition, early detection programs within the framework of the present-day system of health delivery will prove more cost effective in the long run.