Important New Information About Oral Cancer Screening Oregon

By Karina Frost


Cancer of the mouth is a very common and yet very serious disease. There are several causes of it, and some people are more at risk than others, for instance, those who are smokers. To protect yourself from this disease, it may be a good idea to check into getting oral cancer screening oregon.

There are different histologic types of this disease. The first type is the teratoma. The second type is adenocarcinoma of the salivary glands. The third type is tonsillar lymphoma or melanoma from mucosa cells. Approximately ninety percent of these diseases are squamous cell carcinomas. These are carcinomas that originate in the mouth tissues or lips.

This disease also commonly involves the tongue. But it can also develop in the cheek lining, the gums, the roof of your mouth, or the floor of the mouth. When viewed under a microscope, the different versions of the disease can look very similar. That is why medical tests are necessary to distinguish between them early on for a proper diagnosis.

For proper screening, there should be a thorough examination of the mouth by your doctor or dentist to see if there is any visible or hidden lesions on the lips, tongue, or anywhere else in the mouth. The sides of your tongue are also a common area for lesions. As the tumor grows larger, it often becomes an ulcer and starts to bleed. After this stage, the patient may have difficulty talking, chewing, or swallowing. Some patients may need a feeding tube to get adequate nutrition.

Another early sign of the disease is a white patch on the soft tissues of the mouth. This is called a leukoplakia. If the sore shows as a red patch, this is called a erythroplakia. The sore may produce a burning sensation or become painful once the tumor has reached an advanced stage. Sometimes these sores can be observed behind the wisdom tooth or even behind your ear.

There are many screening devices that doctors and dentists may use to detect oral cancer. Some of these devices include the Velscope, the identafi 3000 or the Vizilite Plus. Doctors need to be careful that these devices do not harm the patient through over use, or produce false positives that may lead to unnecessary biopsies.

A brush biopsy is non-invasive and can be used to rule out any dysplasia in areas of the mouth with unexplained discoloration or lesions. However, the only sure method of determining if a lesion is cancerous or not is through a biopsy and a microscopic evaluation of the cells in the tissue sample.

However, other studies conducted over several years contradicted this hypothesis, and concluded that alcohol-based mouth washes were not associated with a risk of oral cancer. The American Dental Association also confirmed that there was no real evidence to support a connection between mouth cancer and alcohol-based mouth rinses.




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