Oral Cancer Treatment in Chennai

Oral Cancer Treatment in Chennai: Comprehensive Care

If you have been told you have oral cancer — or you are waiting on a biopsy and fearing the worst — the questions are usually the same. How bad is it? Will I need surgery? Will I be able to eat and speak afterwards? This page sets out how we answer those questions, and what treatment with us actually involves.

Oral cancer (mouth cancer) covers malignancies anywhere in the oral cavity: the tongue, buccal mucosa, gingivobuccal sulcus, floor of mouth, alveolus, palate, retromolar trigone and lips, as well as verrucous carcinoma, minor salivary gland cancers and oral melanoma. Treating it well means getting three things right — an accurate diagnosis, complete surgical removal, and reconstruction that gives you back function and appearance.

You are cared for by the same two surgeons from the first screening through to long-term follow-up. Dr. Pradeep S. and Dr. Kalpa Pandya plan and operate together, so nothing is handed off between teams at the point it matters most.

Oral Cancer Screening and Risk Assessment

Oral cancer found early is a far smaller operation than oral cancer found late. That is the whole reason screening exists. A screening appointment is a careful examination of the mouth — looking at the lining, and feeling for lumps or areas of thickening you cannot see.

You should be screened regularly if you use tobacco in any form, drink heavily, or have already been diagnosed with an oral potentially malignant disorder. If you have noticed an ulcer that has not healed in three weeks, a white or red patch, a lump, or your mouth is not opening as wide as it used to, do not wait for a routine appointment.

Dr. Kalpa Pandya has extensive experience in managing OPMD — conditions such as leukoplakia and oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) that can turn into cancer if they are left alone. Treating them early can stop that progression before invasive cancer ever develops.

Surgical Procedures for Oral Cancer

Which operation you need depends on where the cancer is and how far it has spread. The aim is always the same: remove all of it, with a clear margin of healthy tissue around it, while taking as little as possible of what lets you eat, swallow and speak.

These are the operations we perform — each links to a page explaining what it involves and what recovery looks like:

• Wide local excision: removing the tumour with a margin of healthy tissue around it. We check those margins on frozen section while you are still in theatre, so we know before you wake up that the cancer is fully out.
• Glossectomy: removing part of the tongue (partial or hemi) or all of it (total), depending on how far the cancer has spread.
• Mandibulectomy: removing part of the lower jaw — marginal if only the surface is involved, segmental if the cancer has gone into the bone.
• Maxillectomy: removing part or all of the upper jaw, reconstructed with an obturator or a flap.
• Composite resection (commando): a single-stage operation removing the tumour, the involved jaw bone and the neck nodes together, then rebuilding.
• Neck dissection: removing the lymph nodes in the neck that oral cancer spreads to first — selective, modified radical or radical, depending on what the scans and the nodes show.
• Salvage surgery: surgery for cancer that has come back after previous treatment such as radiation.

Reconstruction After Oral Cancer Surgery

Removing the cancer is half the operation. Rebuilding what was removed — in the same sitting, wherever possible — is what decides whether you can eat a normal meal and be understood on the phone a year from now. Reconstruction is planned before we ever start, not decided afterwards.

Dr. Pradeep S. specialises in complex oral reconstruction, including the PMMC flap and free flap reconstruction:

• Local and regional flaps: rebuilding the defect with tissue moved from nearby.
• Free flaps: transferring tissue from elsewhere in the body — an anterolateral thigh (ALT) flap, a deep circumflex iliac artery (DCIA) flap, or a pectoralis major myocutaneous (PMMC) flap — and reconnecting the blood vessels under a microscope.

Which method suits you depends on the size and site of the defect and on your general health. What we are optimising for is the best function and appearance we can give you, not the quickest operation.

What to Expect During and After Oral Cancer Treatment

Nothing is scheduled until we know exactly what we are treating. That means imaging (CT, MRI) to see how far the cancer extends, and a biopsy to confirm what it is. Only then do we sit down with you, explain the options, and agree a plan that takes your circumstances and your priorities into account.

Recovery does not end when you leave hospital. You may need speech and swallowing therapy, help with nutrition, and pain management — and you will need regular follow-up so that anything coming back is caught early. Both surgeons stay with you through all of it.

If you want a second view before committing to surgery, that is a reasonable thing to want. We offer a second opinion, including remote video consultations for patients outside Chennai.