Oral squamous cell carcinomas in 28 patients younger than 40 years of age were clinically compared with those in patients aged 40 years or older. The patients accounted for 6.9% of 408 patients with oral carcinoma treated at our hospital between 1970 and 1998. The study group consisted of 16 men and 12 women with a mean age of 33.2 years. Tumors were most commonly located in the tongue (18 cases), followed by intraosseous involvement of the mandible (4 cases), mandibular or maxillary gingiva (4 cases), floor of the mouth (1 case), and buccal mucosa (1 case). T1, T2, and T4 tumors were found in 35.7%, 39.6%, and 10.7% of the study group, respectively. Eleven patients (39.3%) had early stage carcinomas in the tongue. Lymph node metastasis was suspected in 14 patients. Histopathologically, there were 10 well differentiated, 14 moderately differentiated, and 4 poorly differentiated carcinomas, most showing diffuse to relatively diffuse invasion. Treatment consisted of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy in 13 patients (46.4%), surgery in 7 (25.0%), surgery and chemotherapy in 5 (17.9%), and radiotherapy and chemotherapy in 3 (10.7%). Seven patients, including 4 with distant metastasis, died of uncontrolled disease. The 5-year survival rate was 73.8%.
