It’s finally April in Pennsylvania, which for many of us means baseball season for the Gold Rams.
For the rest of us, it’s a nice change of pace in the weather; finally able to shuffle off the bleak winter and meet spring in full force.
But for your West Chester dentist, April has yet another significance: It’s Oral Cancer Awareness Month. And what better way to kick off a month dedicated to the detection of one of the deadliest cancers than dedicating an entire blog to potentially life-saving information?
I couldn’t think of a better reasons, either, so let’s start off by talking about why oral cancer is so deadly.
Too Little, Too Late, Too Often
While the word “cancer” should be scary, the reason why oral cancer is so deadly is because, more often than not, it is detected too late in its development process for any kind of treatment – from chemotherapy to radiation treatments – to have a meaningful impact.
In Chester County alone, about 62 people are diagnosed with cancer located somewhere in their oral cavity every year, according to research by the United States Centers for Disease Control. That’s 62 of our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, and friends every year who will likely be facing an uphill battle with an oral cancer diagnosis which has already spread to other areas of their bodies.
Generally speaking, about half of those 62 people will survive five years after their diagnosis, according to national trends.
But again, the reason why their survival rate is so low is because the cancer has already metastasized, or spread, digging deep into organ tissues, making treatment virtually impossible.
In the face of what seems like a despairing situation, however, there is one treatment that your West Chester dentist can perform which has been recognized as the best way to aggressively and successfully beat oral cancer: Early detection.
The Early Bird Gets More Than The Worm
The health of my patients is important to me, and I recognize that problems inside of your mouth can have negative consequences for the rest of your body.
That’s why I offer oral cancer screenings to compliment routine and painless procedures like teeth cleanings and oral examinations. You should ideally be getting one of these every six months, especially if you use tobacco – and yes: Your chances of developing a form of oral cancer skyrocket if you’re a regular smoker, increasing an instance of oral cancer up to 10 times more than non-smokers.
With a combination of saliva and bacteria analysis as well as image scanning your smile, I can set the ball rolling for a treatment plan which, if the cancer is detected early enough, can have a success rate over 90% depending on where the oral cancer is located.
Those are the kind of odds that you can take to Vegas.
Knowing What To Look For
If you haven’t been to your West Chester dentist’s office in over a year, then you’re already overdue for a teeth cleaning just to prevent other oral diseases like gum disease from threatening your smile.
But if you’ve got oral cancer, then you might not even know that you have it. That’s because in the very early stages it doesn’t cause much pain or display any significant symptoms.
However, this isn’t always the case, because cancer affects different people differently. Even still, oral cancer will show symptoms even in its early stages, but maybe not all of them at once.
So the next time you go to brush or floss your teeth like you should already be doing, I want you to take a closer look and inspect your mouth for the following:
- Red or white spots (even slightly discolored patches of skin) anywhere in your mouth.
- A constant hoarseness in your voice, accompanied by persistent sore throat.
- Pain or numbness in your face or neck.
- Pain in your ears.
- Open sores on your lips, tongue, or in your mouth which don’t heal properly after several days.
- Dramatic loss of weight.
- Swelling in the face or in the neck.
If any of these sound familiar, either describing symptoms you have or a loved one has complained about, then you could already be dealing with a case of oral cancer.
And because self-diagnosis is no substitute for a professional oral cancer screening, you need to see me right away.
So whether you have symptoms or just haven’t been back to the dentist in a long while, you owe it to your health to call me at 610-314-7534, or fill out a simple web form to request an appointment online. You’ll be glad that you did.