Oral Cancer Screening is Part of the Job
Just the name “Oral Cancer” might make your stomach drop, and we understand why! It sounds scary and also probably isn’t something you think about regularly. Luckily, you’re in good hands with the staff at Delano Dental because we screen for oral cancer every year. You may never have even known it was done, but rest assured, we’re looking out for you by making it part of the standard practice of caring for your teeth.
Oral cancer is a common enough issue that we want to be sure we’re keeping an eye on every patient, every year. Each year in the US, approximately 30,000 people are newly diagnosed with oral cancer. Worldwide, the problem is far greater, with new cases annually approaching 300,000. In the US alone, a person dies from oral cancer every hour of every day. If you add the subcategory of laryngeal cancers, the rates of occurrence (about 10,000 additional new cases per year) and death are significantly higher.
If you’re reading this and you’ve never given oral cancer much thought, these can be alarming statistics. That’s the reason our staff strives to be the first line of defense in detecting oral cancer: you may not be thinking about it, but we definitely are. In the cases where we do find oral cancer, we want to treat it as quickly as possible. It should come as good news that oral cancer has an 80-90% cure rate when identified early on. If you have any questions about this screening or your risk for oral cancer, please feel free to bring it up at your next appointment or call our office. We’d love to talk more with you.