THIS YEAR ALONE, 400,000 people throughout the world will be diagnosed with oral cancer. 40% of those diagnosed won’t live another five years. Oral cancer has such a dismal survival rate because it’s usually not detected until very late in its progression. Because April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month, we’re encouraging everyone to get screened this year during their regularly scheduled checkups.
Why Oral Cancer Is On The Rise In Healthy, Young Non-Smokers
Smoking is linked to oral cancer. Tobacco use in many countries is declining, but oral cancer is still increasing every year. In fact, the fastest growing group of oral cancer sufferers are adults ages 25–50 who have never smoked! Why?
Studies indicate that this shift is due to the rise of a very common sexually transmitted infection—HPV, or human papillomavirus. Specifically, HPV #16 and #18, which are also linked to cervical cancer. Individuals with HPV are 32 times more likely to develop oral cancer. Contrast that with smoking, which makes a person 3 times more likely to develop oral cancer.
Education Helps Prevention And Early Detection
We understand that this can be a sensitive subject, but our team believes that people need to be informed about it. Dentists are one of the first lines of defense against this disease. Oral cancer groups around the world are asking dentists to do all they can to help educate patients, and to catch the disease early.
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(note: These are question suggestions you can choose from to answer in your own post):
- Is there anything further you want your patients to know about oral cancer and its link to HPV?
- What kind of questions, etc. can they expect from your team during a screening?
- What can people do to guard against oral cancer and HPV? (vaccine, education, safe habits, early detection)
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If you have questions, please ask us—even if it feels uncomfortable. We just want you to have good information that helps keep you healthy. You can always contact us or send us a private message on our Facebook page.
Other Resources:
Oral Cancer Foundation Press Release
MouthCancer.org
What Is HPV?
