Several factors have been identified to affect morbidity and mortality in oral cancer patients. The time taken to process a resected cancer specimen in a patient presenting with primary or recurrent disease can be of interest as delay can affect earlier interventions post-surgery. We looked at this variable in a group of 168 consecutive oral cancer patients and assessed its relationship to mortality from the disease at 3 and 5 years. It is expected that delay in pathological processing time of surgical specimens acquired from patients with recurrent disease may increase or contribute to the increased rate of mortality. Further high evidence-based studies are required to confirm this.