Antecedentes: El cancer oral es una de las enfermedades mas agresivas y con mayor probabilidadde metastasis; en estadios iniciales es generalmente indetectable y de baja consulta,por lo que se dificulta realizar un tratamiento conservador. Existen diversas tecnicas delaboratorio con base en microscopia (como inmunofluorescencia), inmunohistoquimica yotras que facilitan el diagnostico temprano de la enfermedad. Adicionalmente, los avancesen nanomedicina brindan nuevas herramientas de deteccion a partir de cambios moleculares(biomarcadores) que presentan las celulas en proceso de malignizacion. Objetivo:Describir las caracteristicas clinicas y moleculares de lesiones premalignas y cancer oral ylos metodos de diagnostico usando nanotecnologia (nanochips, nanosensores, etc.), comoun metodo eficaz para la deteccion temprana del cancer. Metodo: Se busco literatura sobrenanotecnologia y diagnostico de cancer oral en bases de datos como Science Direct y Pub-Med; la informacion de cada uno de los articulos se sintetizo con resumenes individuales porlos investigadores, se agrupo y redacto. Resultados: Se seleccionaron 46 articulos que, deacuerdo con su contenido, se agruparon segun su tematica principal; toda la informacion serelaciono en una tabla por subtemas en Excel® 2007. Conclusiones: La literatura revisadasugiere que las herramientas nanotecnologicas pueden ser una alternativa util y rapida,aunque por el momento costosa, para la deteccion puntual de biomarcadores presentes enestadios iniciales del cancer oral. Cabe mencionar que su aplicacion clinica en paises comoColombia es limitada por factores como insuficientes recursos asignados a la investigaciony poca investigacion en esta tematica. Background: Oral cancer is one of the most aggressive diseases with a high likelihood ofmetastases; it is undetectable during initial stages with low medical visits, making it difficultto provide conservative treatment. Several techniques such as microscopy (using for instanceimmunofluorescence) and immunohistochemistry make early diagnosis and cancerdetection easier. In addition, advances in nanomedicine offer new tools to detect molecularchanges (biological markers/biomarkers) in cells during a malignant process. Purpose:Describe molecular and clinic characteristics of premalignant lesions and oral cancer, aswell as techniques involving nanotechnology (lab-on-a-chip devices, nanosensors, etc.) aseffective methods for early cancer diagnosis. Methods: A literature review on nanotechnologyand 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 wereselected and grouped according to their main topic; data were compiled in an Excel 2007spreadsheet. Conclusions: The literature reviewed suggests that tools using nanotechnologycan be a useful and a quick alternative, though expensive, to detect specific biomarkers thatare present in early stages of oral cancer. It is important to point out that their clinical usein countries like Colombia is still limited by factors like the lack of resources allocated forresearch and the little research carried out on this subject.