Due to the low level of oral cancer awareness, the U.S. Surgeon General recently issued a report on oral health urging health care professionals and Americans to play a greater role in preventing and detecting oral cancer early by eliminating high-risk behaviors and conducting more comprehensive oral cancer screening exams. The report and the survey concluded that greater awareness of the risk factors and new testing procedures would stimulate dialogue between patients and their health care professionals and ultimately help in early detection of this unfamiliar cancer. Fighting this disease must begin with educating the American public about oral cancer risk factors, signs and symptoms, and the importance of visiting their dentists for an annual oral cancer exam.
Early detection is key to increasing the survival rate for oral cancer.
New York County Dental Society and OralScan Laboratories conducted this nationwide telephone survey of more than 1,000 Americans 18 years and older to gauge their knowledge of oral cancer, risk factors, signs, and symptoms so that proper education about the disease can begin. Oral cancer effects approximately 30,000 Americans and causes nearly 9,000 deaths annually, as compared to melanoma and skin cancer, accounting for more than 7,000 and 5,000 deaths per year, respectively. In early stages, oral cancers are relatively innocuous and painless, and look similar to other common lesions or sores making visual diagnosis difficult. These very common lesions can represent the earliest, most curable stage of oral cancer. Routine oral cancer testing in a dental office can have a dramatic impact on the early detection of oral cancer.