Objectives: Wound infection is a common complication after head and neck oncologic surgery and may result in significant functional morbidity, poor cosmetic results and prolonged hospitalization. The purpose of this study was to identify the most important risk factors contributing to operative wound infections in patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer. Patients and Methods: The retrospective review of 195 patients after oral and oropharyngeal cancer surgery with immediate reconstruction is presented. Potential risk factors for a wound infection were categorized based on the patient, the disease, and the treatment. Different bacteria isolated from all wound cultures taken were recorded. Results: Wound infection occure in 115 (59%) patients. The analysis of risk factor for the development of infection showed the following risk factors to be significant in univaraite analysis: smoking cigaretes, T and S tumor stage, extent of surgery, neck dissection, nasogastric tube or gastrostomy feeding, tracheostomy, duration of preoperative hospitalisation. Multivariate analysis identified only the major risk factors for wound infection: male sex, tumour localisation, type of reconstruction and the hospitalisation in the intensive care unit. The most common microorganisms isolated were; Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus spp. , Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Corynebacterium spp. and Acinetobacter baumanii in decreasing order of frequency. Conclusion: The identification of risk factors for postoperative wound infections can help surgeon to identify patients with high risk for wound infections after oral cancer surgery and can provide better management of such cases.