Oral precancerous lesions and conditions.

Although oral cancer accounts for less than 5% of the total incidence of all malignancies, approximately half of the oral cancer patients die of their disease. Most oral cancer arises from surface epithelium. The epithelium initially undergoes dysplastic or premalignant changes which can last for years before invasion. Dysplastic epithelium usually produces morphological tissue changes that are detectable clinically. This review discusses the clinical and pathological aspects of oral precancerous lesions and conditions and briefly addresses therapeutic modalities.