April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month

 

April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month.  We have compiled some important facts and figures about oral cancer that we hope you will find useful.  But let us start with a recent article published in the March 2013 Consumer Reports Magazine that we do not find useful.  The article is titled, “Save your Life: Cancer Screening is Oversold.  Know the Tests to Get—and Those to Skip.”  Quotes from the article include:

• “screening tests can sometimes do more harm than good.”
• many practitioners are “overselling cancer tests”
•  
• “oral cancer screening is one of the several medical tests that are overrecommended and unnecessary for all but high-risk patients.”
• “most people shouldn’t waste their time on most diagnostic tests, including chairside visual screenings for oral cancer"
•  
• “Most people don’t need the test unless they are at high risk, because the cancer is relatively uncommon.”

 

There are several problems with this in terms of oral cancer screenings.  Let's address each in turn:

• “screening tests can sometimes do more harm than good.”  The reality is that there is no harm whatsoever in an oral cancer screening. 
• many practitioners are “overselling cancer tests”  Oral cancer screenings are often free, or included in the cost of a typical dental exam.
•  
• “oral cancer screening is one of the several medical tests that are overrecommended and unnecessary for all but high-risk patients.”  The reality is that we no longer know who the "high-risk" patients are.  Historically, smokers and heavy alcohol drinkers were our "high-risk" patients. Today, the fastest growing segment of the oral cancer population are young, healthy, non-smokers.  This is due to the skyrocketing increase in HPV-related cancer (see below for HPV facts)
• “most people shouldn’t waste their time on most diagnostic tests, including chairside visual screenings for oral cancer"  You are already sitting in the dental chair having an exam.  An oral cancer screening is not a separate appointment.
•  
• “Most people don’t need the test unless they are at high risk, because the cancer is relatively uncommon.”  Again, we no longer know who our "high-risk" patients are.  As far as being "relatively uncommon," the fact is that one person every hour of every day will die from oral cancer. 

 



 

Keep reading for oral cancer facts:

 



Prevalence

According to the National Cancer Institute, an estimated 42, 000 new cases of cancer in the oral cavity and pharynx will be diagnosed in 2013. 

Oral cancer will claim 8000 deaths in 2013.

 

Risk Factors

Alcohol and tobacco (using them in combination results in 15 times the risk of using one or the other)

Exposure to the human papilloma virus version 16 (HPV 16), which is now the leading cause of oral cancer in the U.S.

An estimated 25% of cancer patients have no known risk factors

Almost twice as many men as women will be affected by oral cancer

Historically, oral cancer has been a disease of those over 40, but the fastest growing segment of the oral cancer population is young, healthy, non-smokers due to the connection with HPV

Prolonged exposure to sun or tanning beds increases the risk for lip cancer

Users of smokeless tobacco face a 40% greater risk of oral cancer than non-users

 

 Possible Signs and Symptoms

Sore on the lip or in the mouth that doesn’t heal

Lump or thickening on the lip or gums or in the mouth

White or red patch on the lips, tongue, gums, tonsils, or lining of the mouth

Bleeding, pain, or numbness on the lip or in the mouth

Change in voice

Loose teeth, dentures that no longer fit

Trouble chewing or swallowing, or a feeling that there’s a lump in the throat

Persistent hoarseness or sore throat

HPV

HPV is the fasted growing sexually transmitted infection

At least 50% of sexually active people will acquire HPV at some point in their lives

99% of those with HPV infections clear the virus through the normal immune response with little or no apparent symptoms (1% will develop cancer)

HPV-oropharyngeal cancer has been tied with oral sex, but the virus (when active) may be passed on with kissing

HPV has accounted for a 225% increase in oropharyngeal cancer since 1988

HPV-16, the same strain that is responsible for the majority of cervical cancer, is responsible for up to 95% of orphayngeal cancer. 

By 2020, HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer will outnumber HPV-related cervical cancer.

 

Early Detection

See your dentist for an oral examination at least annually

The earlier the detection, the greater the likelihood of a cure

Here's the reality of an oral cancer screening: It is not invasive. It is visual and tactile only. It is painless. It is free. You are already in the dental chair. The awkward few minutes of allowing us to look in the back of your throat, feel under your tongue, and examine your cheeks and tongue are out of our belief that early detection DOES save lives. 

 
 

For more information on our oral cancer exam, please click here

For information on the Velscope, one of the adjunctive diagnosic tools our office uses in oral cancer screenings, please click here

 

During the month of April, we are offering free oral cancer screenings.  Please contact us if you would like to schedule an exam.

 

 

If you would like to learn more about oral cancer, please check out mouthhealthy.org, the ADA's consumer website.