Hi, my name is Dr. Abalos, and I am here at Sunbrite Dental. Today, I wanted to talk to you about oral cancer.
What is oral cancer?
By definition, cancer is just a growth, like an uncontrolled growth of different cells in the mouth. It can be challenging because it can present in many ways. One of the common things we can do to help prevent or catch it early is for patients to come and see us regularly so that we can take a look at what's going on inside their mouths. Typically, it can present anywhere from a small white patch to a red patch to a canker-looking thing inside the mouth. What makes it dangerous is that often, in the beginning, it's not painful—it's just there. Here at Sunbrite Dental, during checkup exams, we make sure to look at everything inside the mouth, besides our patients' teeth. We check the teeth, gums, inside the cheeks, the tongue, the back of the throat—everything imaginable in this little space.
What causes oral cancer?
The most common causes of oral cancer are drinking alcohol and smoking together, which creates a deadly combination that increases the risk of getting oral cancer exponentially. If you just drink and don't smoke, it causes cancer to some extent, or if you smoke and don't drink, it causes cancer. However, if you drink alcohol and smoke together, for some reason, those two just like to mess with things in the mouth, and can cause cancer at a higher risk. More and more recent studies show that vaping can also be a cause of cancer. These are a few common causes of oral cancer.
What are the early signs of oral cancer that I should look out for?
There would be different changes in the mouth. Are you getting sores? Is the texture inside your mouth or your gums changing? Is there a lump or a bump growing on your tongue, underneath the tongue, or on the side? Any type of growth? It's always best to check things out with cancer, any type of cancer. It's always best to prevent, but if unable to prevent cancer, then the next best thing is to catch it as early as possible, as it is usually survivable if caught early.
Are there any specific areas of the mouth where oral cancer is most likely to appear?
If you chew tobacco, wherever you keep the tobacco in your cheek, that is where the cancer will most likely form because there are chemicals in the tobacco that can change different things in the mouth, causing the cancer to either start or grow. Smoking can cause oral cancer, or vaping can cause oral cancer, but because it's not one specific area, it can occur throughout the entire mouth. Again, this is one of the huge benefits of getting a regular checkup by your dentist. They can check things out and ensure everything looks as it should. If not, then we can refer you for a biopsy. There are many things that different sores in the mouth can be a symptom of, and cancer is not the only one. I understand the look of fear or terror in my patients' eyes when I say, "You know what? I would just really want you to get this biopsy." Typically, most patients think biopsy means, "Oh crap, I have cancer." But it doesn't necessarily mean that. There are other things that could be happening. It would be best to find out and see what's going on right away so that we can treat it to our best ability, rather than allowing it to worsen, causing pain and catching it at a later stage where it's really hard to treat before it spreads.
What are the current treatment options for oral cancer?
Once detected, the usual course of action is to cut it out. If caught early and it's small enough, we can just cut it out, and that's the end of it. If it progresses to later stages, then treatment becomes much more difficult, and that's when an oncologist or a doctor specializing in cancer will make the necessary decisions to fight oral cancer. Treatments can range from receiving chemotherapy to shrink the oral cancer lesion before cutting it out, to cutting it out and then radiation therapy, or it could just be chemotherapy. There are many different ways to treat oral cancer, depending on what kind of cancer it is and at what stage we catch it at. If you believe something might be going on, please get it checked out immediately. Don't wait out of fear. It definitely saved my life. I am a breast cancer survivor, and I truly believe what I teach my patients day in and day out is what saved my life. I detected my breast cancer myself, got it checked out right away, and was able to catch it at stage one. What I tell my patients is that cancer is definitely beatable if you're vigilant about it, get regular checkups, and try to take care of it right away. Don't let it sit and fester, get worse, or wait for the pain to come.
I hope answering questions about oral cancer has helped you today. If you still have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. You can reach me here at Sunbrite Dental by calling (702) 819-0866. You can ask for me personally, or if email or text is more your thing, you can also text me at the same number, (702) 819-0866 or reach me through email at [email protected].