It has been observed that many patients visiting the dental clinic are found to be suffering from some kind of dental cancer. Hence, when you visit your dentist for next checkup, make sure that you must get your oral cancer screening done.
During oral cancer screenings in Lake Jackson, TX, your dentist can always identify early signs of such oral cancer so that the treatment can start before they reach to advanced stages.
Oral cancer screenings therefore will be very important, as it is possible to do the treatment successfully if the dentist can notice the early signs of cancer.
According to statistics available, almost 84% cases of oral cancer can easily be detected early with proper screening done by any dental health professional.
In most of the good dental clinics, there are facilities available for detecting your early signs of cancer by using the latest technology.
While performing cancer screening by your dentist, they will use various modern tools and try to check for any kind of discoloration or sores present in your mouth. Thereafter, they will try to check the tissues around the mouth for any lumps or abnormalities.
In case, they are able to detect any kind of abnormality present in your mouth then they will send your sample to any good lab for detailed testing.
How to know about the risk of oral cancer?
Following are few risk factors about oral cancer which can help you to determine whether you have any risk for such cancer –
- If you are above 40
- If you smoke or use tobacco
- If you are heavy drinker
- Human papillomavirus (HPV)
- Men are at more risk than women
- If you are of habit of taking unhealthy diet
- Prolonged sun exposure
Recently, it has been noticed that even people who are not in the above category also suffering from oral cancer. Therefore, whether you come under the above category or not, it is very important to undergo screening for oral cancer for maintaining overall health.
Symptoms of oral cancer
While doing screening for oral cancer a dentist will try to look for following symptoms:
- White or red patches present in your mouth
- Presence of spots which bleed continuously or do not heal
- Lump or hard spot present in your mouth
- Pain or numbness while biting on your teeth
Treatment and prevention of oral cancer
You can certainly prevent oral cancer by regularly getting your oral cancer screenings done during your dental checkup.
During the examination, your dentist may not be in a position to diagnose, but after sending the sample of tissue to any lab, it will be possible to determine whether it is cancer.
