Background: The prevalence of oral cancer in Iranian population is a major challenge and the delay in referring health and care centers can increase the risk and finally cause significant mortalities. This study aimed to investigate diagnostic delay of oral cancer based on history and histopathological recording data in patients referred to dental school of Shahid Beheshti during 2015-2021 years. Methods: The data were collected from records registered for 112 patients. Demographic information of age, gender, site involved with cancer and type of injures were investigated. The data for patient and professional delays were collected by helping records. We also investigated the relation between age, gender, site involved with cancer and type of injures with patient and professional delays. The data were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis and MannWhitney tests. Results:The results showed to be high the prevalence of oral cancer in ages of 40 to 80 years and in females compared to males. The prevalence rate was higher in tongue and lip sites compared to other sites and squamous cell carcinoma was the most common injury type. Patient delay was longer (228.00 ± 393.00 days) compared with professional delay (62.20 ± 118.20 days). We did not found any relation between gender and age with the prevalence of oral cancer (P>0.05). Professional delay was longer for osteosarcoma and for gingiva, while patient delay was longer for tongue and lip sites (P<0.05). Conclusion: Since patient delay was longer, politician must consider programs and educations for people for reducing patient delay.

Iranian patients, Oral cancer, Patient delay, Professional delay, Squamous cell carcinoma