The head and neck cancer symptoms usually depend upon the location of the cancer. Most of the head and neck cancer have early symptoms. The common neck cancer symptoms are:

1. A lump, ulcer or sore which doesn.t heal even within weeks.
2. A sore throat
3. Difficulty in swallowing or chewing and loose tooth
4. Hoarseness in the voice and bad breath
5. Pain in the ear, ringing or difficulty in hearing
6. Bleeding in the mouth or throat
7. Numbness in the mouth or the lips
8. Blocked nose or bleeding nose which is persistent
9. Pain in the face or jaws
10. Trouble in breathing, noisy breathing, speaking or slurry speech
11. Painless white or red patches in the lining of the mouth or tongue.
12. A decreased sense of smell.
13. Extreme weight loss.

The other symptoms of neck cancer are:

1. Lymph glands or lymph nodes are a part of the lymphatic system. Lymphatic system is the natural defense system of the body against infection. A common head and neck cancer symptom is swelling in the lymph glands in the neck. The lymph glands may become enlarged which is usually painless in the start.
2. Oral cavity: A red or white patch could appear on the gums, tongue or the lining of the mouth. The jaws might swell and dentures might not fit properly and become uncomfortable. Unusual bleeding or pain in the mouth may occur.
3. Nasal cavity: Sinuses become blocked and do not get cleared; chronic sinus infections do not respond to antibiotics, bleeding might occur through the nose, headaches which might be frequent, swelling or trouble in the eyes, pain in the upper teeth and problem with dentures might occur.
4. Pain in the ear which is related to oropharynx includes the back one-third of the tongue, the back of the throat and the tonsils. Hypopharynx is the lower part of the throat.
5. Nasopharynx: Nasophrynx includes the area behind the nose. There might be trouble breathing or speaking, frequent occurrence of headaches, pain or ringing in the ears and trouble in hearing or deafness and post- nasal discharge. There might be constant pain in the ear while swallowing which indicates an infection or growth of tumor in the throat and frequent ear infections.
6. Larynx: Larynx is the voice box which is located in front of the neck. Hoarseness is the first neck cancer symptom of the larynx. In the larynx the cancer might occur in the glottis the region where the vocal cords are located, the supraglottis i.e., the region above the glottis and the subglottis which is the area that connects the glottis to the windpipe. Mostly when the cancer is in the larynx it causes changes in voice. Pain might be felt while swallowing and pain in the ear might occur. Normally it becomes difficult to swallow solid food. There might be a development of lump in the throat or neck with an increased feeling of breathlessness with persistent cough and earache.
7. In metastatic squamous type of neck cancer, there might be pain in the neck or throat which would not go away.
8. Salivary glands: The neck cancer symptoms of the salivary glands are: swelling around the jawbone or chin, numbness of face muscles and pain in the neck, face and chin which does not go away.
9. Changes in the skin are another neck cancer symptom with the person suffering from head and neck cancer. The most common type is the basal cell cancer of the skin. This type of cancer mostly appears on the skin which is exposed to the sun like the forehead, face and ears. Initially they appear as a small, pale patch that enlarges slowly and finally turns into an ulcer. The squamous cell cancer occurs on the lower lip or ear. Malignant melanoma turns the skin blue- black or black. A mole might change its colour, shape and size.