Oral cancer can affect adults of any and all ages. Some patients are more at risk of developing oral cancer, like those who smoke or use chewing tobacco. However, we often recommend an annual oral cancer screening as a way to keep up on your oral health. With early detection, treatment is both easier and more effective.
Lifestyle factors like smoking and chewing tobacco can increase the risks of developing oral cancer. Even if you’ve quit smoking years ago, it is still important that annual screenings be done. The screening itself takes just minutes and can be helpful in preventing future oral health problems. Even if you’re not a smoker or use other types of tobacco, we recommend having a screening done regularly.
If you’re a smoker or use other tobacco-related products, we recommend coming in for routine screenings. If cancer runs in your family, it’s important to consider coming in to get checked. Most adults are good candidates for these screenings. The benefits of having a screening done far outweigh the few minutes it takes to have it performed in our office.
First, your dentist will perform a dental examination as usual, then lift your tongue to look underneath it and visually scan the insides and outside of your mouth. We look for unusual lesions, bumps, and plaque-like film that could be a sign of oral cancer. If we detect anything unusual, we’ll recommend a biopsy to determine whether the area is benign or cancerous. The majority of cancer screenings come back negative, but it’s still important to have them done so we can catch a problem early on, if it’s there.
If you’d like to schedule an appointment to have an oral cancer screening done, contact us today so that one of our friendly team members can help you further.