ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Survival outcomes of First l

is available at the end of the articleIntroduction Oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) is the most common head and neck cancer, affecting approxi-mately 2000 Canadians every year [1]. The most common risk factors associated with OCSCC are tobacco and alco-hol use [2]. These factors independently increase the risk of OCSCC, but also have a synergistic effect when used in combination [3]. Overall, the incidence of OCSCC is de-creasing, which is thought to be related to decreased smoking rates. Data from the Canadian Cancer Registry between 1992 and 2007 demonstrates a decrease in inci-dence of oral cavity cancer by 2.1 % for men and 0.4 % for women [4]. This registry has also shown that survival out-comes are improving for OCSCC with an 8.1 % increase in survival for men [4]. These trends of decreasing incidenc