The potentialities of optic coherent tomography (OCT) in the diagnosis of the buccal mucosa status were studied and the results are presented in two communications. Communication 1 demonstrates the tomograms of various parts of normal buccal mucosa and methods of their identification as exemplified by analysis of 1180 in vivo and 43 ex vivo OCT images. Using parallel histo-tomographic comparison, the authors distinguished the main signs of optic images, depending on the type of epithelium and characteristic features of the connective tissue stroma in various parts of the buccal mucosa. These signs are essential for understanding the optic images of the mucosa in disease, which will be shown in communication 2.