Oral Facial Cancer
By Joseph Preziosi Jr., DMD
There are approximately 30,000 cases or oral and pharyngeal cancer resulting in roughly 7,400 deaths in the United States alone every year. As with all cancers the five- year survival rate is dramatically improved when the disease is diagnosed in its early-localized stages rather than its advanced metastatic stages. Dentists play a crucial role not just in early diagnoses but also in early intervention, education and consequently cessation of high-risk behavior in patients.
Thus dentists should be educating patients on what high-risk behavior is and the consequences of their continued practice, assist patients in high-risk behavior cessation and consistently perform thorough oral cancer screening examination on all patients, especially on the high-risk areas of the tongue and the floor of the mouth. Careful attention needs to be paid to suspicious red, white and ulcerative lesions.
Risk Factors
The primary risk factors for oral and pharyngeal cancer are tobacco use and the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Patients who use both are in an extremely high-risk category since the effective combined risk of both tobacco and alcohol seems to the multiplicative product of the two rather than the simple additive sum of the two.
This is supported by the fact that nearly 75% of all oral and pharyngeal cancers in the United States are attributable to smoking and drinking. It is quite evident from this data that the primary prevention of oral and pharyngeal cancers is abstention or all tobacco use and alcohol abuse along with the proper intake of fruits and vegetables, which has been shown to reduce the incidence of oral cancers.
Other risk factors patients should be aware of are previous oral cancer lesions; once a patient has been diagnosed with oral cancer they have a greater risk of developing another oral cancer lesion than the general public. Older age, most oral cancers are diagnosed in patients that are 60 years old or older; therefore senior citizens must be more diligent in seeing their dentist at least twice a year and more often if recommended.
Lip cancer related to chronic sun exposure, so anyone whose occupation has them constantly in the sun or someone who sunbathes or enjoys outdoor activities need to be cognizant of the risk and use appropriate protection such as sunscreens and or hats. This is especially important for infants and young children since they are even more susceptible to the damaging UV rays of the sun than adults. Certain viral infections can make patients more likely to develop oral cancers; patients should discuss the details with their dentists. Inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables increases a patients risk of developing oral cancer, so a balanced nutritional plan can help reduce a patients risk of developing oral cancer as well as having many other health benefits, such as weight control, high blood pressure reduction and high cholesterol reduction just to name a few. While smokeless tobacco caries a lower risk than smoking does in developing oral cancers it still causes the patients risk to increase approximately 4 fold over patients that do not use it, so smokeless tobacco should also be avoided.
Oral Cancer Detection & Treatment
Early detection and treatment give patients the best long-term prognoses and greatest five-year survival rate. To ensure patients get the earliest possible detection and treatment that gives them the best chance of recovery they must see a dentist on a regular basis. This is especially important if you have any of the aforementioned risk factors and imperative if you have several of the risk factors.
These visits that include clinical examinations and radiographs (X- rays) are critical whether you have teeth or not. Your dentist can help you reduce and or eliminate your risk factors for developing oral cancer and is the one health care professional most capable of diagnosing oral lesions.
About the Author:
Joseph Preziosi Jr., DMD
New Jersey Cosmetic Dentist
phone. (908) 654-7100
fax 908-654-8764
email: Drpreziosi@aol.com
url: http://www.preziosidentistry.com/
