The oral cancer screening procedure only needs a single visit to the dental office and can be as fast as brushing teeth. A comprehensive oral screening will take around two minutes, and it will cover various areas of your oral cavity, including the pharynx, larynx, sinuses, and throat.
> Before Oral Cancer Screening
Before the screening procedure, you will be required to take out dentures and other removable oral appliances to ensure our Billerica dentist examines your whole mouth for abnormal swellings, bumps, ulcerations, asymmetries, and other abnormalities.
> During Oral Cancer Screening
Oral cancer screening has two major aspects, a visual exam and a physical one. During the visual examination, the dental professional will request you to stick the tongue out and then use a mirror and a light source to observe the back of your oral cavity and a tongue depressor to suppress the tongue down.
After completing the visual exam, the professional will feel your face, neck, and mouth for unusual masses or nodules. The Oral Cancer Foundation notes that this move is imperative for any cancer-causing abnormalities to be detected.
> After Oral Cancer Screening
The oral cancer screening procedure is usually done as a precautionary action and not diagnostic. This means that if your dental practitioner finds nothing suspicious during the examination, it’s still imperative to keep having more periodic screenings after some time as well as keeping up with scheduled dental checkup appointments. This should be the case for people who are at a high risk of developing mouth cancer. Age (55+), alcohol use, tobacco use, sun exposure, and an HPV diagnosis are some of the risk factors for oral cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.
If cancer signs or symptoms are detected after the screening procedure, your practitioner may recommend further tests like a biopsy. This will involve taking a sample collection of the suspicious cells and sending them to the laboratory for tests.