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Background: Oral cancer is one of the most aggressive diseases with a high likelihood of metastases; it is undetectable during initial stages with low medical visits, making it difficult to provide conservative treatment. Several techniques such as microscopy (using for instance immunofluorescence) and immunohistochemistry make early diagnosis and cancer detection easier. In addition, advances in nanomedicine offer new tools to detect molecular changes (biological markers/biomarkers) in cells during a malignant process. Purpose: Describe molecular and clinic characteristics of premalignant lesions and oral cancer, as well as techniques involving nanotechnology (lab-on-a-chip devices, nanosensors, etc.) as effective methods for early cancer diagnosis. Methods: A literature review on nanotechnology and oral cancer using databases such as Science Direct and PubMed was carried out; data from each article were summarized, grouped, and described. Results: 46 articles were selected and grouped according to their main topic; data were compiled in an Excel 2007 spreadsheet. Conclusions: The literature reviewed suggests that tools using nanotechnology can be a useful and a quick alternative, though expensive, to detect specific biomarkers that are present in early stages of oral cancer. It is important to point out that their clinical use in countries like Colombia is still limited by factors like the lack of resources allocated for research and the little research carried out on this subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]