During every visit to your dental provider, they check for various oral health concerns. They start with the usual suspects, tooth decay and gum disease. From there, they look for a life-threatening condition known as oral cancer. While they typically only mention this inspection if something is awry, it’s part of every dental care visit. Medical practitioners can defeat oral cancer in most cases where it’s caught early. Once it becomes more established, it can be much more difficult to overcome. This is why your dentist is always looking for signs and symptoms of oral cancer.
What Dentists Watch For That Indicates Oral Cancer
Your dentist will bring a range of tools into play if they begin to suspect that oral cancer is present. They’ll order one or more of a range of tests and often include other specialists. Common signs of oral cancer include polyps, discoloration, and strange growths, swellings, or blockages. If any of these symptoms are suspected, they will order one of a range of tests, including:
- Oral Brush Biopsies – This test involves the removal of a small sample of tissue using a specialized tool. Your provider will send out the resulting sample for analysis at a third-party lab.
- Endoscopies – Small cameras are mounted to the end of a flexible tube that can be inserted and maneuvered throughout the oral cavity. The camera looks for signs of oral cancer in hard-to-reach areas. This may include the back of the throat, esophagus, and nasal passages.
- Barium Swallowing Tests – Barium responds to x-rays, making it appear on any films used during imaging. Patients may be asked to swallow a liquid bearing this substance to make it possible to observe any blockages in the throat.
- HPV Testing – A range of cancers is known to be caused by the human papillomavirus. Testing for the presence of this virus is one way of eliminating certain cancers from needing to be screened for.
A range of other tools may be brought in when trying to diagnose oral cancer. Among them are CAT scans, MRIs, and additional x-rays. Medical professionals will use information revealed by these tests to analyze your health concern. If present, the type of cancer will be determined, how far it has spread, and how aggressively it is advancing. With this data, your medical providers can develop a treatment plan to defeat oral cancer.
The Various Forms of Oral Cancer
There are a variety of types of cancers that can form within the oral cavity. Among them is lymphoma, a form of cancer that develops within the lymph nodes. Mucosal melanoma develops within the mucous membranes found inside the oral cavity. Sarcomas frequently occur within the fibrous tissues, fat, blood vessels, nerves, and other oral cavity tissues. Any of these conditions can be successfully treated when caught in their earliest stages. Protecting yourself and your family from oral cancer is just one more reason to maintain a steady oral health care routine.