If oral cancer spreads

Last medical review:

Cancer cells can spread from the mouth to other parts of the body. This spread is called metastasis.

Understanding how a type of cancer usually grows and spreads helps your healthcare team plan your treatment and future care. If oral cancer spreads, it can spread to the following:

  • other parts of the mouth
  • the soft tissue surrounding the mouth
  • lymph nodes in the neck (called cervical lymph nodes)
  • bone surrounding the mouth (the upper or lower jawbone)
  • skin on the face
  • salivary glands
  • lung
  • liver
  • distant bone, such as the base of the skull or the spine

Expert review and references

  • Mark Taylor, MD, FRCSC
  • Dziegielewski PT, Mendenhall WM, Dunn LA. Cancer of the Oral Cavity. DeVita VT Jr, Lawrence TS, Rosenberg S. eds. DeVita Hellman and Rosenberg's Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology. 12th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer; 2023: Kindle version, [chapter 27], https://read.amazon.ca/?asin=B0BG3DPT4Q&language=en-CA.
  • National Comprehensive Cancer Network. NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology: Head and Neck Cancers Version 2.2025 . 2025.
  • Muller S, Tilakaratne WM. Update from the 5th Edition of the World Health Organization Classifcation of Head and Neck Tumors: Tumours of the Oral Cavity and Mobile Tongue. Head and Neck Pathology. 2022: 16(1):54–62.

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