The Oral Cancer Foundation has declared April Oral Cancer Awareness Month. The doctors at the Center for Oral Surgery & Dental Implants recommend routine oral cancer screening for all patients. Oral cancer is not a rare disease. Approximately 53,000 people will be diagnosed with oral cancer every year in the US. It kills one person every hour of every day, and approximately 132 new individuals will be diagnosed with it each day. The good news is that it can often be found early in its development, through a simple, painless, and quick screening.
Who should get screened?
Every adult. Oral cancer can often be caught early, even as a pre-cancer. With early detection, survival rates are high and the side effects of treatment are at their lowest. Like other screenings you engage in such as cervical, skin, prostate, colon and breast examinations, oral cancer screenings are an effective means of finding cancer at its early, highly curable stages. Make them part of your annual health check-ups.
What are the risk factors?
There are two distinct causes of oral cancer. One is the use of tobacco and alcohol, and the other is through exposure to the HPV16 virus (human papillomavirus version 16). This virus is now the leading cause of oropharyngeal cancers in the US, and the same one responsible for the majority of cervical cancers in women. The quickest growing segment of the oral cancer population is young, healthy, non-smokers due to the connection to this virus.
Early Indicators:
Red and/or white discolorations of the soft tissues of the mouth.
Any sore which does not heal within 14 days.
Hoarseness that lasts for a prolonged period.
Advanced Indicators:
A sensation that something is stuck in your throat.
Numbness in the oral region.
Difficulty in moving the jaw or tongue.
Difficulty in swallowing.
Ear pain which occurs on one side only.
A sore under a denture, which even after adjustment of the denture, still does not heal.
A lump or thickening which develops in the mouth or on the neck.
An oral cancer screening should be conducted every year, ideally at your regular dental check-up. If you are not sure you have had a recent screening or, do not have a dentist of record, call our office to schedule an examination.
For more information about oral cancer, please log onto The Oral Cancer Foundation’s official website at www.oralcancer.org.
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