Treatments for oral cancer can cure or control the disease. The goals of treatment are to:

• Remove or destroy cancer cells
• Destroy any cells that have spread
• Control or prevent further spread of cancer cells

Your care team will recommend the most appropriate treatments for you based on several factors. Treatment plans vary depending on:

• Size and location of the main tumor
• Type of oral cancer, including whether it resulted from the HPV virus
• Whether the cancer cells have spread to other parts of your body
• Your age, health history, preferences, and goals

Surgery is often the first recommend treatment for people with oral cancer. There are several types of surgery. The kind you have depends on the location and size of the tumor. In some cases, removing the tumor may cure the cancer.

Depending on the location of the tumor, you may need reconstructive surgery after the tumor has been removed. Types of surgery for oral cancer include:

• Glossectomy: A glossectomy involves removing part or all of the tongue. Then surgeons reconstruct the tongue to preserve as much normal function as possible.
• Mandibulectomy: A mandibulectomy removes cancers that develop in the lower jaw (mandible). Surgeons may use a piece of bone from another part of the body to reconstruct the jaw. With modern surgical techniques, retaining half or more of the jaw allows us to greatly preserve your appearance, speech, and swallowing function.
• Maxillectomy: To treat cancer in the roof of the mouth (hard palate), surgeons remove the bone (maxilla) from that area. Removing the bone leaves a hole in the hard palate. Doctors can fill the hole using a dental prosthesis or reconstructive surgery.
• Mohs micrographic surgery: To treat some cancers of the lip, doctors remove thin pieces of the tumor and examine them under a microscope during the procedure. They continue removing tissue until they no longer detect cancerous cells. This procedure spares as much healthy tissue as possible.
• Neck dissection: Neck dissection removes lymph nodes that are affected by oral cancer or are at high risk of being affected. Once the surgeon removes the lymph nodes, a pathologist carefully examines them for cancer. We may perform neck dissection during your primary operation or in a separate procedure.
• Reconstruction: The goal of reconstructive surgery is to restore a body part’s structure and function after cancer treatment. These surgeries commonly use skin, muscle, and/or bone from another area of the body to repair damaged tissue.

Cancer medications work through the body to fight cancer. Some of these treatments target and destroy cancer cells. Others help your body attack cancerous cells. Your doctor may recommend drugs that you take by mouth, injection, or infusion. Oral cancer medications include:

• Chemotherapy: This group of medications slows or stops the growth of cancer cells in the body. Chemotherapy drugs may also be used before surgery to shrink tumors or after surgery to destroy any remaining cancer cells.
• Immunotherapy: Immunotherapy medications help your body’s own immune system attack and destroy cancer cells. 
• Targeted therapy: This type of drug therapy interferes with the growth of cancer cells. The medications destroy cancer cells or slow their growth.  

Radiation therapy is a painless treatment that uses high-energy X-rays or other types of radiation. Stanford Medicine radiation oncologists are skilled at shrinking or destroying cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissues. Our team has experience using:

• 3D conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT): Doctors use 3D images from CT scans to target the tumor more precisely. Your doctor aims the radiation beams from many different angles to match the exact shape of the cancer.
• Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT): IMRT is similar to 3D-CRT, but the doctor can adjust how much radiation you get from each beam. Adjusting the radiation dose allows the doctor to avoid nearby healthy cells to reduce the risk of side effects.
• Stereotactic ablative radiation therapy (SABR): This method works much like IMRT and 3D-CRT, and the total amount of radiation you get is similar. With SABR, you receive fewer radiation doses, but each dose is stronger. It’s also known as stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT).

Your doctor may suggest you get more than one type of treatment. Getting two or more treatment types is called combination treatment or combination modality treatment. For example, you may need surgery with other treatments, such as radiation therapy or chemotherapy.

Your care team may also recommend chemoradiation to treat oral cancer. This is a combination of chemotherapy medications and radiation treatments. Chemotherapy drugs can make cancer cells more sensitive to radiation. Taking these medications while receiving radiation can make radiation treatments more effective.

You may receive additional treatment in one of two ways:

• Neoadjuvant therapy: This treatment takes place first to make surgery easier and more effective. Undergoing chemotherapy before surgery, for example, may shrink a tumor, making successful removal of the tumor more likely.
• Adjuvant therapy: This treatment occurs after surgery to reduce the risk of the cancer coming back. Chemotherapy or radiation therapy after surgery can destroy remaining cancer cells.
  

Some people also use complementary therapies. That means they get cancer treatments, such as surgery and radiation, along with other supportive ones. Complementary therapies include yoga and meditation.