Cancer Screening
Look out for
• Ulcers that don't heal after 3 weeks.
• Red and white patches.
• Unusual lumps.
Oral cancer is becoming increasingly common, more common than cervical and testicular cancer combined. Risk factors include smoking, alcohol abuse, chewing tobacco, and more recently, HPV which is a sexually transmitted infection. Over two-thirds of mouth cancer are detected at a late stage reducing the chances of survival (under half of those diagnosed survive beyond five years.
Regular check-ups with your dentists can help early detection, thereby hugely increasing the chances of successful treatment and outcome up to 90%. Left untreated, it requires extensive surgery, often leaving the patient severely incapacitated as eating, swallowing and speaking can become very difficult as well as the psychological impact of surgery to the face.
