This report comprises a retrospective review of the clinical data on 157 patients seen in the auckland area having a diagnosis of cancer of the tongue, floor of the mouth, inferior alveolus, or buccal mucosa (retromolar area, vestibule of the mouth, and cheek mucosa) during 1970–86. One hundred patients were male, 95% were european, 85% were cigarette smokers, and 58% had a history of high alcohol intake. All primary tumours were squamous cell carcinomas, 50% were located in the tongue, 27% in the floor of the mouth, and 11.5% each in the buccal mucosa and inferior alveolus. The majority (60%) of patients with tongue cancer were clinically stage i at presentation while other intra‐oral tumours were evenly distributed between stages i and iv. Surgical resection of the primary intra‐oral lesion produced local control in 90% of stage i tumours, but this fell to below 70% in stage ii—iv tumours. Most patients (82%) who recurred locally had positive or ‘close’ margins, and this rate of local tumour recurrence as a consequence of narrow margins did not decrease with the addition of adjuvant radiotherapy. Of those patients with stage i disease who received only treatment of the primary lesion, 20% later developed regional nodal disease which was controlled in more than half by neck dissection, but control was achieved only in 11% of patients treated with radiation. The presence of regional disease at presentation was associated with a poor prognosis. It is concluded that local control of inferior oral cavity tumours can be achieved if resection is accomplished with clear margins. Regional control can be obtained in 50% of patients with neck dissection. Considered together, the high rate of regional recurrence with stage i lesions, and the poor results following salvage therapy (12% 2 year survival) indicate that these patients require as aggressive initial therapy (often involving neck dissection) as do those with more advanced disease.