April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month
Video Link with Dr. Springmann
Early Detection Saves Lives
In honor of Oral Cancer Awareness Month, New Town Dental Arts will be offering $20 Velscope oral cancer screenings for the month of April 2016. Dr. Sebastiana Springmann and Dr Omar Hasham on behalf of our office and patients will be forwarding 50% of each Velscope oral cancer exam performed as a donation to the Oral Cancer Foundation to help support and promote early detection, education to ones before and after diagnosis as well the support that will be needed after diagnosis. Oral cancer is not a rare disease. Approximately 48,250 people will be diagnosed with oral cancer every year in the US. It kills one person every hour of every day, and approximately 130 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 from age 18. Oral cancer can often be caught early, even as a pre-cancer. With early detection, survival rates are high and the side effects from 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 pathways by which most people come to oral cancer. One is through the use of tobacco and alcohol, a long term historic problem and cause, and the other is through exposure to the HPV16 virus (human papilloma virus version 16), which is now the leading cause of oropharyngeal cancers in the US, and the same one, which is responsible for the vast majority of cervical cancers in women. The quickest growing segment of the oral cancer population are 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 which lasts for a prolonged period of time
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, so take advantage of this free offer and get screened today
Call New Town Dental Arts at 757-259-0741 or visit our website to make an appointment for your $20 screening not only for your preventive measures, but also to help support the Oral Cancer Foundation in furthering education and awareness.
For more information about oral cancer, please log onto The Oral Cancer Foundation’s official website at oralcancer.org.
April is the official Oral Cancer Awareness Month. 100 new people in the US every day will be newly diagnosed with an oral cancer and one person every day will die from it. It is not rare and screening for it as important as cervical, prostate, breast and other cancer exams.
Your dentist can help. At New Town Dental Arts we have the skills and the tools to ensure that early signs or pre-cancerous conditions are identified.
Oral cancer screening is a routine part of a thorough dental examination. Regular check-ups, including an examination of the entire mouth, are essential in the early detection of cancerous and pre-cancerous conditions. You may have a very small, but dangerous, oral spot or sore and not be aware of it. Your dentist and hygienist will carefully examine the inside of your mouth and tongue and in some patients may notice a flat, painless, white or red spot or a small sore. Although most of these are harmless, some are not. Harmful oral spots or sores often look identical to those that are harmless but testing can tell them apart. If you have a sore with a likely cause, your dentist may treat it and ask you to return for the re-examination.
Signs to look for
- Oral cancer often starts as a tiny, unnoticed white or red spot or sore anywhere in the mouth.
- It can affect any area of the oral cavity including the lips, gum, cheeks, tongue and the hard or soft palate.
- A change in the way the teeth fit together.
- Oral cancer most often occurs in those who use tobacco in any form.
Other signs include
- A sore that bleeds easily or does not heal
- A color change of the oral tissues
- A lump, rough spot, crust or small eroded area
- Pain, tenderness or numbness anywhere in the mouth or on the lips
- Difficulty chewing, swallowing, speaking or moving the jaw or tongue
- Alcohol use combined with smoking greatly increases risk.
- Prolonged exposure to the sun increases the risk of lip cancer.
- Oral cancers can occur in people who do not smoke and have no other known risk factors. Oral cancer is more like to strike after age 40. Studies suggest that a diet high in fruits and vegetables may prevent the development of potentially cancerous lesions.
- There has been a nearly fivefold increase in incidence of oral cancer patients under age 40, many with no known risk factors. HPV 16 (human papilloma virus) is now implicated in young non-smoking cancer patients.
- The incidence of oral cancer in women has increased significantly largely due to an increase in women smoking. In 1950 the male to female ratio was 6:1 by 2002 it was 2:1.
Prevention and Detection
- The best way to prevent oral cancer is to avoid tobacco and alcohol use.
- Regular dental check-ups, including an examination of the entire mouth are essential in the early detection of cancerous and pre-cancerous conditions.
- Knowing the risk factors and seeing your dentist and hygienist for oral cancer screenings can help prevent this deadly disease. Routine use of the Pap smear since 1955, for example, dramatically reduced the incidence and mortality rates for cervical cancer in the United States.
Get a dental check-up, get a screening, it may save your life!
VELscope System is here! $20 through month of APRIL 2016 and 50% goes to Oral Cancer Foundation
Sources:
Oral Cancer foundation - oralcancerfoundation.org
The American Dental Association - ada.org
The American Cancer society - cancer.org
