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Oral Cancer-The Signs and Symptoms

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Oral cancer is a disease that affects the structures within the oral cavity including the lips, tongue and throat. Approximately ninety percent of oral cancers originate in the tissues that line the mouth and lips, and most commonly involve the tongue.

Symptoms

Common symptoms include the following:

• Red or whitish patches inside the mouth
• A mouth sore that won’t heal
• Bleeding
• Teeth that feel loose
• Lumps both inside the mouth and on the neck
• Persistent ear ache

Causes

While anyone can develop oral cancer, there are risk factors that will make the likelihood of developing oral cancer higher for some people. High risk groups include the following:

• People over the age of forty
• Tobacco users – this includes any type of tobacco use including smoking cigarettes, cigars and pipes, and chewing tobacco etc.
• People who drink alcohol regularly
• An even higher risk is posed for people who combine both tobacco and alcohol use regularly
• People who are regularly exposed to the sun without using appropriate sunscreen on the lips.
• Anyone with a history of other types of cancer of the neck or head

Detection and Diagnosis

Many cases of throat cancer are detected by dentists, who are specially trained to detect the early signs of this disease. Since a dentist does all of his work inside your mouth, he will be able to see changes that may indicate a problem.

If your dentist notices something out of place during an oral exam, he or she may decide that a biopsy of the tissue in question is necessary.

A biopsy is an inexpensive exam that involves taking a small sample of the affected tissue. Depending on the size and location of the tissue in question, your dentist may perform the test under local anesthesia, or refer you to a physician if general anesthesia is required.
Once the tissue has sample is procured, it will be sent to a pathologist to be tested under a microscope to see if cancer cells exist.

Treatment

If cancer cells are detected in the biopsied tissue sample, the next step is to determine what stage the disease has progressed to. This will require additional testing, again depending on the size and location of the tissue in question. The cancer will be diagnosed as one of the following stages:

1. Stage 0 – indicates that a cell has become a cancer but is generally localized in the area of similar cells and will not progress or spread. Stage 0 is commonly referred to as ‘in situ’ which means that the cancer will remain at the point of origin.
2. Stage 1 – indicates a localized cancer but with the ability to spread to neighboring tissues.
3. Stage 2/3 – indicates the cancer has spread through the lymph vessels.
4. Stage 4 – indicates the potential for the cancer to not only spread through the lymph vessels but also to spread into the blood stream, and subsequently invade any other part of the body.

The doctor will need to be very sure of the stage of the cancer in order to be able to treat it with the most effective measures.

Once the stage has been determined, other factors will play an important role in treatment including overall general health, where in the mouth the cancer began, the size of the tumor and whether or not there is any spread (see stages above). The doctor will work with you to develop a plan that will be effective in treating the cancer, and also in meeting whatever needs you may have in relation to treatment.

Types of Treatment

Once diagnosis and staging have been completed, a treatment plan will be developed. In general, treating oral cancer will involve several different methods.
Before starting treatment, your dentist will most likely need to address any outstanding dental issues you have. If you have periodontal (gum) disease, this must be addressed before the commencement of treatment. Any loose teeth or other teeth that require extraction must be removed prior to beginning treatment. Finally, your dentist will perform a thorough cleaning of your teeth.

Radiation, chemotherapy and surgery may be performed as part of the treatment plan. Your treatment team may consist of an oncologist, a surgeon, a plastic surgeon and your dentist.

Radiation will involve using high energy X-rays to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy will make use of different chemicals to kill cancer cells. Depending on whether or not surgery is part of your treatment, a plastic surgeon may be needed for reconstruction of the affected surgical site.
Healing After Treatment

Your will need time to heal and recover from your treatment. Depending on the type of treatment(s) received, you will probably feel weak and tired and experience pain. You may also have difficulty with swallowing, eating and talking.

Your health care team will do their best to provide relief from treatment side effects. You may be prescribed pain killers, anti-nausea medications, and vitamins to help your body heal. In time you will begin to feel like yourself again.

Prognosis and Survival

If found in the early stages, oral cancer has an eighty to ninety percent survival rate. The outcome will depend on the stage of the cancer when found. It also depends on the exact location of the cancer.

The following are guidelines for recovery rates based on the stage of the disease:
• Stage 0 – approximately 96 out of every 100 people with this stage of cancer will live longer than five years
• Stage 1 – approximately 90 out of every 100 people with this stage will live longer than five years
• Stage 2 – approximately 70 out of every 100 people will live longer than five years
• Stage 3/4 – because of the severity of this stage, survival rates depends on too many factors to provide an approximation at this time.

The above statistics aren’t an exact science. Each person and each type of cancer is different. Individual factors will affect your prognosis including your overall health both before and after treatment, however, as you can see, oral cancer has fairly high rate of complete recovery, especially when detected in its early stages.

So visiting your dentist isn’t just to identify any issues with your teeth, but your dentist also has the ability to identify abnormalities within your mouth, which caught and treated at an early stage, will significantly increase the odds of a successful treatment.

The post Oral Cancer-The Signs and Symptoms appeared first on Enhance Dental Centre.


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