Our practice continually looks for ways to ensure that we are providing the optimum level of oral health care to our patients. We care about our patients and their health and look for oral cancer in every patient.

Are You at Risk for Oral Cancer?

As with most cancers, age is the primary risk factor for oral cancer. Tobacco and alcohol use are other major predisposing risk factors.

Increased risk:
ages 18-39; sexually active

High risk:
40 and older; tobacco users (any age, any type within 10 years)

Highest risk:
40 and older with lifestyle risk factors (tobacco and/or alcohol use); previous history of oral cancer

Why Would it Matter if I Was Sexually Active?

The human papilloma virus (HPV) is an extremely common sexually transmitted infection especially prevalent in young adults. Few people even know they have it. HPV has long been known to cause cervical cancer and now studies suggest it also plays a role in more than 20% of oral cancer cases.

How Does Dr. Carol Screen for Oral Cancer?

After a regular visual examination of your mouth, you rinse with an acidid solution. Then Dr. Carol or our hygienist will examine your mouth using specially designed light technology. If a suspicious lesion is detected, it will be marked with a blue dye and biopsied. The oral cancer exam will be offered to you at your regular maintenance visit. The exam takes just a few minutes to perform.

This simple procedure is key to the early detection of pre-cancerous tissue that can minimize or eliminate the potentially disfiguring effects of oral cancer and possibly save your life.

Learn more about oral cancer screening here.

Why should I be screened for Oral Cancer?

Oral cancer is one of the most curable diseases when it's caught early, so early detection is vital. When oral cancer is found early, treatment of it is 90% successful! For this reason we continually examine all of our patients for visual signs of oral cancer at their regular maintenance appointments.

An oral cancer screening is a simple and painless examination that gives the best chance to find any oral abnormalities at the earliest possible stage. The new light technology exam and the standard visual oral cancer examinations improves our ability to identify suspicious areas at their earliest stages.