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Background: Cancer is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality today, with more than 10 million new cases and more than 6 million deaths each year worldwide. Hence an accurate and sensitive method for detecting early oral cancerous lesions as well as predicting regional recurrence and/or spreading metastases is of paramount importance. The objective of the present study was to estimate the serum and salivary lactate dehydrogenase levels among healthy individuals and in patients with oral cancer. Also the present study aimed to suggest saliva as a better diagnostic tool than serum, as it can be easily collected without the need for breaking the skin barrier, thereby greatly reducing the risk of contamination among the patient and the personnel. Materials and Methods: In this study lactate dehydrogenase levels were estimated in 30 healthy individuals and 30 oral cancer patients using Spectrophotometry. Results:The mean values for serum and salivary lactate dehydrogenase levels were higher in oral cancer patients in comparison with healthy individuals. The mean serum and salivary values among the study group showed marked increase in salivary LDH levels than the serum LDH values. Comparison of serum and salivary LDH levels between control group and study group was highly significant (p<0.001). Correlation between serum and salivary LDH values among the control group and study group yielded highly significant values (p<0.001) for salivary LDH. Conclusion: With the application of a standardized method for saliva collection, storage and handling, the LDH levels in whole saliva could be useful as a biochemical marker in the detection of oral malignancy.