Understanding Oral Cancer

Like other types of cancer, oral cancer occurs when cells in your mouth mutate or change, resulting in a growth that doesn’t go away. Oral cancer can affect any part of the mouth, including the lips, tongue, cheeks, roof, floor, sinuses, or throat, but it is most often found on the tongue or mouth floor. Chewing tobacco users are more susceptible to oral cancer that occurs between the lip/cheek and soft tissue of the lower jaw because this is where the tobacco typically has the most contact with the mouth.

Causes and Risk Factors
Doctors, dentists, and scientists don’t know exactly what causes mouth cells to mutate, forming oral cancer, but they have identified a number of risk factors that describe indicate who may be at risk.

Tobacco use has been directly linked to oral cancer; those who smoke are six times more likely to develop the disease, and those who use chewing tobacco are 50 times more likely to receive a diagnosis. Excessive alcohol consumption, sun exposure, and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) are also risk factors.

Certain populations, such as adults over the age of 40, men, and those with a family history of cancer, are also more likely to develop the disease, though scientists haven’t determined whether these demographics themselves are risk factors or if people in these groups are simply more likely to have other risk factors counting against them.

Is Oral Cancer Common?
Though oral cancer isn’t often in the media, it is actually more common than Hodgkin’s lymphoma, testicular cancer, thyroid cancer, and many other cancers that are often the subject of news reports and public service announcements. In 2014, over 40,000 people were diagnosed with oral cancer. According to the Oral Cancer Foundation, that number is expected to leap by 10,000 to 50,000 this year for 2016 oral cancer diagnoses.

Schedule Your Oral Cancer Screening Today
Much of the high mortality rate associated with oral cancers can be attributed to the high frequency of late stage diagnoses. As this form of cancer exhibits few symptoms during its early stages, patients are often unaware that they have cancer until the condition has spread to other parts of the body, making treatment and remission more difficult to attain.

With this in mind, preventive screenings and biopsies are critical components to early detection and proactive oral cancer treatment. In Lorton and Springfield, oral surgeon Dr. Snehal Patel works closely with local dental oncologists and dentists to develop post-radiation treatment solutions, helping patients retain their oral function through restorative oral surgery. For more information about these procedures, contact your nearest location today.