Background: The incidence of oral cancer has significant local variation. In India and other Asian countries, oral and pharyngeal carcinomas comprise up to half of all malignancies, with this particularly high prevalence being attributed to the influence of carcinogens and region-specific epidemiological factors, especially tobacco and betel quid chewing. Aim: This is a cross-sectional study of the etiological factors and histo-pathologyof 100 oral cancer patients in our institution. Methods: This study was conducted among the oral cancer patients who visited the out-patient department in the Government Arignar Anna Memorial Cancer Hospital. A complete history was taken and the patients were evaluated for the presence of risk factors. A study of the histo-pathology report was also done for the 100 patients. Results: The incidence of oral cancer is more among males than females. Tobacco is the potent risk factor in several of its forms: smoking, betel-nut chewing and quid. Conclusion: The study confirms the usefulness of theprogrammes aimed at primordial prevention of the oral cancer in the form of preventing the risk factors. 

Keywords: Histopathology; Etiological Factors.