Smoking and drinking together are thought to cause more than three quarters of mouth cancer cases in developed countries, according to Cancer Research UK, Britain's biggest cancer charity.
The group, which has just launched a three-year mouth cancer awareness campaign funded by the Department of Health, warned that only one in five people it surveyed linked alcohol with mouth cancer.
Yet, Britons drink twice as much alcohol as they did 50 years ago, an average 8.6 litres of pure alcohol each every year, and diagnosed mouth cancer cases rose by a quarter between 1992 and 2001.
The disease now kills more people than cervical and testicular cancer put together.
Professor Alex Markham, chief executive at Cancer Research UK, said rising alcohol intake was a direct cause. "The recent rise in mouth cancer cases appears to be one of the unfortunate outcomes of excessive drinking in this country."
The charity's new campaign, called 'Open Up to Mouth Cancer', aims to make more people aware of the risks.
The move puts more pressure on drinks producers to show they are actively promoting responsible drinking amid widespread concern over binge drinking and government plans to relax licence laws next week.
Claims that smoking and drinking together increase the risk of cancer also puts the drinks industry in a difficult position over its opposition to an all-out smoking ban in pubs.
Sara Hiom, head of health information at Cancer Research, pressed the point: "At least three quarters of mouth cancers could be prevented by stopping smoking and reducing alcohol intake."
The drinks industry's self-regulatory body, the Portman Group, has taken a lead by helping to run anti-binge drinking adverts and set up Drinkaware, a website devoted to responsible drinking.
UK drinking habits, however, are still increasing, despite consumption declines in France and Germany. Young adults, aged 18-25yrs, are expected to be drinking 14 per cent more alcohol by 2009, according to market research group Datamonitor.
British women aged 18-25 already drink way more alcohol than their European counterparts, notching up 291 litres per year compared to the 216-litre European average. German women came second with 200 litres per year.