Oral Cancer Awareness Month

April is known for being the month where spring truly begins to take shape. The beautiful foliage tipping the branches of trees again, the green grass growing to replace the browned and damaged winter turf, the gorgeous flowers sprinkled through the fields in the wild, and the gardens in our yards, all are signs the month of April has arrived. April is also known for something else, and it's to this I dedicate the article: Oral Cancer Awareness Month.

Although oral cancer is among the top most deadly cancers in the world, you don’t hear it being discussed quite as much as other types of cancer, but it is an issue most thoroughly discussed in the dental community. The reason for this is plain to see; we are most thoroughly involved in your oral health.

It’s in this month of April that we want to shine the light on this issue and help our patients gain an understanding of it. This is the time of year that we focus on the education, prevention, early detection, and the treatment options for Oral Cancer. Arguably the most important aspect of our focus is screenings. Just like with other cancer screening you may engage in - like skin, prostate, cervical, colon and breast exams, oral cancer screenings are an undeniably effective means of not only determining the presence (or lack of presence) of oral cancer, but catching it early enough that successful treatment is much more plausible.

Oral cancer is typically detected by a doctor, not a dentist, by which time it’s usually in it’s later stage. Early detection of oral cancer, through screenings that you would receive at a dentist regularly, would improve the successful treatment of oral cancer markedly. It’s one of the most deadly forms of cancer, because it is usually caught much too late. Nearly 50,000 Americans are estimated to be diagnosed this year alone.

That estimation of diagnosis may seem pretty alarming, but there is good news: early detection and treatment is as easy as visiting your dentist for your routine dental exams at StarBrite Dental in Rockville, MD. Once a year, as a small part of your routine dental cleaning and examination, your hygienist will carefully examine your mouth using an incredibly innovative oral cancer screening system called VELscope.

While the large number of people expected to be diagnosed with oral and throat cancers is alarming, the good news is that ensuring early detection is as easy as attending your routine dental exams at StarBrite Dental in Rockville, MD. Once a year, as part of your routine cleaning and exam, your hygienist will examine your mouth carefully using the VELscope.

Although the chance of someone being diagnosed with oral cancer is fairly minute (roughly 1 in 100,000 people) the nature of cancer alone causes mortality rates to skyrocket if the diagnosis and treatment is not done early enough. This isn’t just the case with oral cancer, it’s the case with all types of cancer. It’s also very important to know the risk factors of oral cancer, so that these risks can be reduced.

If you are overdue for your regular dental exam, please call us today or fill out a contact form. Dr. Maryam Seifi and her caring staff at StarBrite Dental want to help you live a long, happy and healthy life, wearing a beautiful smile.