Oral Cancer

Oral cancer is dangerous, someone dies from oral cancer every hour of every day.This cancer, found in the mouth, lips or throat, is often highly curable if diagnosed and treated early.

Main Causes:-

1) Heavy use of tobacco.

2) Heavy use of alcohol.

Symptoms:-

1) Oral Cancer could look like a common ulcer, cold sore or a discoloration of tissue.

2) If you have any type of lesion in your mouth, or on your lips, that doesn’t heal within two weeks, or a difficulty in swallowing for a prolonged period of time, it is very important to see your dentist right away.

How it can be detected?

The FDA has recently approved a device to detect oral cancer called a VELscope.VELscope is non-invasive and uses a bright blue light to emphasize any changes in the mouth that a dentist or hygienist could not normally see.

Treatment:-

If your dentist does find a suspicious lesion in your mouth, he / she might remove it, but will most likely send you to a specialist for a removal and biopsy, which is a painless procedure.
If oral cancer is detected early enough, it could possibly be treated with surgery alone.

What is Biopsy?

A biopsy is the process of removing a small piece of tissue for a pathologist to determine, under microscopic examination, if it is cancerous. A soft tissue biopsy is the most common type of biopsy used in detecting oral cancer.

For more details on dental health visit http://www.creatingsmiles.ca.