Nanomaterials for Theranostic Management of Oral Cancer: Advances in Imaging, Biosensing, Targeted Delivery, and Multimodal Synergistic Therapy.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), which accounts for over 90% of oral cancer cases, is often diagnosed at advanced stages, resulting in a five-year survival rate of less than 40%. Current diagnostic methods, such as visual examination, biopsy, and conventional imaging, have limitations in sensitivity, specificity, and invasiveness. Conventional treatments like surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy also pose significant challenges due to functional loss, toxicity, and poor patient compliance. These issues have prompted the exploration of nanomaterials as promising theranostic tools. Due to their tunable properties, high surface area, and biocompatibility, nanomaterials offer innovative solutions for OSCC diagnosis and therapy. They enable enhanced imaging resolution, ultrasensitive biomarker detection, and targeted, stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems that improve therapeutic outcomes while minimizing side effects. Additionally, nanoplatforms can combine chemotherapy, photothermal therapy (PTT), photodynamic therapy (PDT), gene therapy, and immunotherapy to address challenges like multidrug resistance and tumor hypoxia. This review highlights the novel role of nanomaterials in OSCC, focusing on their use in diagnostic enhancement, targeted therapies, and multimodal treatment strategies. Finally, we discuss the challenges of clinical translation, including synthesis scalability, regulatory standards, and long-term safety, while suggesting future directions, such as biodegradable nanomaterials, AI-based personalized treatment platforms, and improved clinical trial designs.