Regular dental examination not only maintains good oral heath, but it also detects the early stages of oral cancer, or any condition that may lead to oral cancer. We find the need to be fighting few major illnesses like Diabetes, HIV and Cancer on global scale. A lot of money is being spent in research to find cures and treatment options to fight these diseases.
Amongst the cancers affecting men and women, oral cancer is said to be one of the fastest growing cancers today. Causes attributable to oral cancer include tobacco and alcohol consumption besides other genetic factors that cause oral cancer to develop over a period of time. Cancer of the lips, tongue, mouth and tonsils are all parts of the body where oral cancer starts and it is also theorized that French kissing might be the cause of some of the oral cancer causes.
Oral cancer has a lot of different symptoms. Bleeding in your mouth, or a sore in your lip that won’t heal are common indications of oral cancer. Trained and experienced Dentists are able to detect many more signs of oral cancer other than the above. Existence of pre cancerous lesions and white patches in the mucous membrane along the lateral border of the tongue and the oral cavity can be found by the Dentists during routine examination.
X Ray, CT Scan as well as specialized MRI scan are some of the investigative techniques that will be used to study the lesion and identify the exact status. Oral cancer treatment includes surgical intervention as well as radiation for curative treatment of cancer. Dentists believe that oral cancer can be prevented through lifestyle choices, because this kind of cancer is attributed to tobacco use, alcohol and poor diet.
Keeping yourself aware of changes that are happening to your own body is very important if your lifestyle or behavior is in question. Just to be on the safe side, ask your dentist to examine your chances of getting oral cancer. This examine is painless but could reveal some serious health issues that will have to be dealt with. Chemotherapy is also administered along with radiation. Either one of these treatments or a combination is used depending upon case to case basis.
