Oral Cancer Are You At Risk?

By Snehal Patel, DDS, MD

According to the Oral Cancer Foundation, close to 36,000 Americans will be diagnosed with oral or pharyngeal cancer this year. Of those 36,000 newly diagnosed individuals, only slightly more than half will be alive in five years. This is a number that has not significantly improved in decades.

The death rate associated with this cancer is particularly high due to the cancer being routinely discovered late in its development. Often it is only discovered when the cancer has metastasized to another location. Prognosis at this stage of discovery is significantly worse than when it is caught in a localized intra-oral area.

Studies have shown that the death rate from oral cancer is about four times higher for cigarette smokers than for nonsmokers. It is also widely believed in the medical field that the heat generated by smoking pipes and cigars irritates the mouth and can lead to lip cancer. Those at an especially high risk of developing oral cancer are over 40 years of age, heavy drinkers and smokers, or users of smokeless tobacco, including snuff.

One of the real dangers of this cancer is that in its early stages, it can go unnoticed. It can be painless, and few physical changes may be obvious.

The good news is that your dentist or physician can, in most cases, see or feel the precursor tissue changes, or the actual cancer while it is still very small in its earliest stages.

It may appear as a white or red

patch of tissues in the mouth, or as a small, indurated ulcer, which looks like a common canker sore.

Because there are so many benign tissue changes that occur normally in your mouth, it is important to have any sore or discolored area of your mouth that does not heal within 14 days looked at by a professional. Other symptoms include a lump or mass, pain or difficulty in swallowing, speaking or chewing, and any wart like masses.

If your dentist or physician decides that an area is suspicious, the only way to know for sure if it is something dangerous is to do a biopsy of the area.

This is not painful, is inexpensive, and takes little time. It is possible that your general dentist or medical doctor may refer you to an oral surgeon to have the biopsy performed.