{"id":768,"date":"2018-04-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/\/template2\/dental-care-blog\/fighting-back-oral-cancer\/"},"modified":"2018-04-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-04-04T00:00:00","slug":"fighting-back-oral-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/dental-care-blog\/fighting-back-oral-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting Back Against Oral Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1154\" src=\"http:\/\/contentlibrary.socialmediafordentistry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/450\/2018\/04\/oral-cancer_543.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"543\" height=\"543\" \/>  <strong>ORAL CANCER IS A SUBJECT<\/strong> we\u2019d all prefer not to have to think about, but it\u2019s critical to have a basic understanding of risk factors and symptoms. More than 50,000 people in the U.S. were diagnosed with oral cancer last year, and that number is <a href=\"https:\/\/oralcancerfoundation.org\/oral-oropharyngeal-incidence-rates-2017\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">expected to rise<\/a>. That\u2019s why, in honor of Oral Cancer Awareness Month, we\u2019re dedicating a blog post to giving our patients the tools they need for early detection. <\/p>\n<h3><strong>Oral Cancer Risk Factors<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p> There are several risk factors that increase a person\u2019s chances of developing oral cancer.\u00a0Some of them are out of our control, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.net\/cancer-types\/oral-and-oropharyngeal-cancer\/risk-factors-and-prevention\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">age and sex<\/a>. Men are twice as likely as women to develop oral cancer, and it is far more common in people over 45. But there are plenty of risk factors that we can control, the <strong>biggest of which is tobacco<\/strong>. A whopping 85 percent of oral cancer cases are linked to some kind of tobacco use (<a href=\"https:\/\/myperiocare.com\/news\/does-vaping-cause-oral-cancer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">even e-cigarettes<\/a>). The next biggest avoidable risk factor is frequent, <strong>heavy alcohol consumption<\/strong>.  A few of the less-obvious risk factors include getting too much sun (which can cause lip cancer), HPV, and neglecting your oral hygiene, particularly if you also smoke. You can eliminate this risk factor by brushing twice a day, flossing daily, and scheduling regular dental appointments! <\/p>\n<h3><strong>Symptoms To Watch Out For<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p> Unfortunately, even people with none of these risk factors will sometimes develop oral cancer anyway, which is why it\u2019s important to be able to recognize the symptoms, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.net\/cancer-types\/oral-and-oropharyngeal-cancer\/symptoms-and-signs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">include<\/a>: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A sore in the mouth or on the lip that doesn\u2019t heal<\/li>\n<li>Red or white patches inside the mouth<\/li>\n<li>Unusual lump on lip, mouth, neck, or throat, or strange thickness in the cheek<\/li>\n<li>Persistent sensation of having something stuck in the throat<\/li>\n<li>Numbness of mouth or tongue<\/li>\n<li>Difficulty with chewing or swallowing<\/li>\n<li>Chronic bad breath<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> If you do have one or more of the risk factors for oral cancer, getting regular general health screenings can catch it before you even notice any symptoms. <strong>The earlier oral cancer is caught, the easier it is to beat it.<\/strong>  <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"543\" height=\"305\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EsWirMQ6xIs?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/p>\n<h3><strong>Where Does The Dentist Fit In?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p> Another way oral cancer is caught early is at regular dental exams! In addition to checking your teeth for cavities and your gums for signs of gum disease, we can spot many of those early symptoms of oral cancer while we\u2019re looking at your mouth, which is just one more reason why it\u2019s so important to keep scheduling your dental appointments!  Even if you don\u2019t have oral cancer or any of the risk factors, you can still help the people who are fighting this disease. Ask us how you can get involved! <\/p>\n<h4>We look forward to seeing you soon!<\/h4>\n<h6>Top image used under <span style=\"color: #2a7abd;\"><a style=\"color: #2a7abd;\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/share-your-work\/public-domain\/cc0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC0 Public Domain license<\/a><\/span>. Image cropped and modified from original.<\/h6>\n<h6><span style=\"color: #d9d9d9;\">The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.<\/span><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>ORAL CANCER IS A SUBJECT<\/strong> we\u2019d all prefer not to have to think about, but it\u2019s critical to have a basic understanding of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[176,179,180],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-dental-posts","category-general-dental","category-176","category-179","category-180","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}