Labial potentially malignant disorders of the oral cavity are one of the main
risk factors for the onset of oral cancer. Oral cancer now accounts for 3-5% of
malignant tumors in Western world statistics. For this reason, the treatment of
precancerous diseases of the oral cavity assumes an undeniable importance in
preventing the onset of this pathology. Pre-cancers of the oral cavity include the forms
with the highest risk of malignant transformation (erythroplasia, homogeneous and
non-homogeneous leukoplakia) and the other forms with a low index of malignant
transformation (lichen planus, oral submucosal fibrosis, leucoplakia, and chronic
hyperplastic candidiasis). The cause of the onset of the precancerous oral cavity is
unknown, but there are usually some risk factors that, alone or in combination, play an
action favoring the appearance of the mucosal lesion. The main risk factors for
precancerous lesions in the oral cavity are tobacco, alcohol, chronic local trauma, poor
oral hygiene, chronic dietary and vitamin deficiencies, exposure to diagnostic and
therapeutic ionizing radiation, viral and fungal infections and immunological factors. In
this chapter, we will focus on actinic cheilitis, an extremely common precancerous
condition of the lips, and oral cancer.
Keywords: Actinic cheilitis, Labial potentially malignant disorders, Oral submucous fibrosis, Squamous cell carcinoma, Verrucous carcinoma.
