Hayes Martin was the first to focus on improving cure rates by treating the primary tumor with X-rays. By 1928, V. P. Blair of St Louis was the first to advocate surgery as the best management for oral cancers. A major initiative of the 1970s and 1980s was cytotoxic chemotherapy for patients unfit for surgery.

• In 1928, V. P. Blair of St Louis was the first to advocate surgery as the best management for oral cancers.

• Billroth appreciated the importance of good access and took the procedure a stage further, removing a section of the mandibular body to reach the tongue and oropharynx.
• In 1875, Bernard von Langenbeck resected the ramus of the mandible in continuity with the primary tumor.^[1]
• In 1917, Esser was the first to describe an axial pattern flap based on the temporal artery.^[2]

• By 1923, radiotherapy was used to treat neck metastases.
• By 1930s, Hayes Martin was the first to focus on improving cure rates by treating the primary tumor with X-rays by the Coutard method supplemented with gold radium seeds.
• By 1950, development of bleeding control techniques, antibiotics, and blood transfusion made it possible to do advanced surgeries for cancers.
• A major initiative of the 1970s and 1980s was cytotoxic chemotherapy for patients unfit for surgeries.