Background: Oral cancer is the most prevalent malignant neoplasms within the head and neck, and accounts for more than 300,000 new cancer cases and 145,000 deaths per year worldwide. The trace elements have been extensively studied in recent years, to assess whether they had any role in the aetiology of cancer. Hence; under the light of above mentioned data, the present study was undertaken for assessing the salivary copper and zinc levels in oral cancer patients. Materials & methods: A total of 20 oral cancer patients and 20 healthy controls were enrolled. Only those patients of oral cancer were included in which diagnosis was confirmed on histopathological examination. All the patients were recalled in the morning and salivary samples were obtained. All the samples were sent to laboratory where auto-analyser was used for evaluation of salivary copper and zinc levels. All the results were recorded and analysed by SPSS software. Results: Mean salivary copper levels among the patients of the oral cancer group and control group was 10.36 ppb and 79.64 ppb respectively. Mean salivary zinc levels among the patients of the oral cancer group and control group was 123.52 ppb and 159.42 ppb respectively. While comparing statistically, it was seen that mean salivary copper levels and salivary zinc levels among the patients of the oral cancer group was significantly reduced in comparison to healthy controls. Conclusion: Copper and zinc are involved in the pathogenesis of head and neck malignancies. Key words: Oral cancer, Salivary, Copper, Zinc