That's a lot of people who will be developing some form of oral cancer - and the bad thing is, a lot of times there are no noticable symptoms to prompt a person to get checked out. My husband John got diagnosed only after he went to his doctor for a case of "swimmers ear" and the doctor felt a hard mass on the opposite side of his neck. As it turned out, the squamous cell carcinoma had already spread to the lymph nodes in his neck. Other than a pain in his ear and a slight "scratchy throat" sensation - he didn't notice anything "unusual". I just hope and pray that someday a cure for all kinds of cancer can be found soon. It seems not too much has changed in treatment for oral cancer in the past 10 years or so. Maybe this will change - new strides in treatment needs to be found for this illness.