78 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the gum were treated in our hospital from 1964 to 1982. 54 were male and 24 female, the sex ratio was 2.3:1. The peak age ranged from 50 to 59 years. 19 (24%) patients had lesions of stages I-II and 56 (71.7%) of stage III. All the patients were treated with surgery only or radiotherapy plus surgery. In 72 treated by surgery only, the lesions of the upper and lower gingival carcinoma without regional lymph node metastasis gave 5 year survival rates of 50% and 83.3%, while those with regional lymph node metastasis gave 5 year survivals of 20% and 58.5%, respectively. The rest 6 patients receiving radiotherapy plus surgery gave a 5 year survival rate of 50%. The results indicate that the prognosis is better for the carcinoma of the lower gum without regional lymph node metastasis.