survival in oral mucosa squamous cell carcinoma. analysis of 161 patients introduction: Oral Cancer accounts 3% of all human cancers. Squamous Cell Carcinoma is the most common. nowadays, in Chile and the world, oral cancer is reaching relevance because of its high incidence and low survival rates; most often is squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). aim: We analyzed the five-year survival of 161 patients diagnosed with SCC. Also was studied relationships between survival and gender, age, location, tobacco, alcohol and treatment. methods: Retrospective study among 1989 and 2010. The study population was mainly men gender (59%), average age 64 years and location of the CEC preferably in tongue (37.6%). 54% were well differentiated carcinomas and TnM, the majority corresponding to T2n0M0. Kaplan-Meier curve and Log Rank test were used for survival analysis and to compare them. We determined significant difference when p value < 0.05. results: The overall survival at five years was 46%, the lowest rates were in the male gender, age group 60, floor of mouth, smokers and alcohol consumers. conclusions: Although tobacco and alcohol are factors highly related to the presence of CEC, there was no significant difference between survival and these habits. There were differences between the survival curves for patients treated with surgery associated with radiotherapy in comparison to other treatments.