Early detection of “Oral Cancer” is an important aspect while fighting with the disease. This always helps in identifying precancerous calls in advance before the cells become cancerous. In the United States alone, almost 35,000 people have been diagnosed having oral cancer. About 8,000 of these affected people have lost their lives in the year 2007 alone.
A regular dental checkup will be more helpful in such early detection of this deadly disease, according to the “Pennsylvania Dental Association (PDA)”. Oral cancer simply means the cancer located in any part of mouth. It involves lips, gum tissue, soft parts, and hard parts of the palate. It could even be an affected pharynx or the top portion of throat.
According to the findings of several research studies, adults with an age of 40 years and above are more prone to such disease. The rate of impacting is almost double in case of men compared to the women. People who are below the age of 40 years have almost five times the risk of elders for the oral cancer. Habitual tobacco users and specially the ones who mix tobacco with alcohol are at exceptionally high risk of developing oral cancer.
The regular checkups are advised even for the people who do not have their own teeth. Such people normally use dentures and even in this case a regular checkup is must. The risk of developing precancerous cells or cancerous lesions is always present with these people. “All patients should be screened for oral cancer whether they fall into one of the high-risk categories or not,” said Dr. John Meci, a PDA member and general dentist from Coplay.
PDA suggests that one should see a dentist at least twice a year for regular checkups. In case sores are noticed in the mouth or on the lips which are getting healed up for a long time a treatment becomes necessary. Similarly other symptoms including lump or discolored patches on inner mouth, difficult chewing, swallowing or moving the jaw and tongue, pain or numb development in mouth, jaw swelling are also important while performing checkups.
It is always better that any problem is dealt with by an expert dentist who will identify the possibility of oral cancer. In some cases the “Brush Test” may be required. In this test cells are collected from a suspicious lesion in moth and analyzed. Results then can be verified with incisional biopsy and histology. If the problem is severe surgical removal of affected lesion may also be required.
PDA recommends that one should avoid using tobacco and alcohol. Wearing a lip balm which contains sunscreen is also advised as this would help in prolonged exposure to the sun which results in to the lip cancer. Intake of healthy and nutritious food with enough fruits and vegetables would certainly help preventing the development of potentially cancerous lesions, according to the PDA.
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