<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Oral cancer consists of a group of neoplasms affecting any region of the oral cavity. This term is commonly used interchangeably with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), representing the most frequent of all oral neoplasms. Factors affecting the development of the oral squamous cell carcinoma are tobacco use, alcohol consumption, low socio-economic status, poor hygiene, poor diet, viral infection like HPV, ill-fitting dentures, jagged

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... p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> An institution based retrospective observational study was conducted in the department of ENT, GMC Jammu, including the records of the patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma admitted from June 2016 to July 2019. 80 patients of oral carcinoma were included in the study.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Male to female ratio was 5.1:1. Mean age of presentation was 49.2±4.1 with most of the cases presenting in the 6^th decade. 27 (33.75%) patients had history of chewing tobacco alone, 17 (21%) had smoking with chewing tobacco and 10 (12.5 %) smoking with alcohol. 52% patients presented with growth of tongue (52%) followed by buccal mucosa (17.5%) and other sites. Histopathological grading of OSCC showed predominance of well differentiated cancer in 44 cases (55%).</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Cases of OSCC are increasing day by day in young generation due to increasing exposure to the risk habits which are easily accessible to them.</p>