Dentists do quite a lot during dental checkups. Besides cleaning your teeth, they also examine your gums, tongue, tonsils, and throat for dental problems. In fact, one of the issues they look for is mouth-related cancer. Since the condition seriously harms oral health, dentists screen you for it to ensure proper care. As for how they go about this process, your local dental practice can provide some details. Read on to learn what to expect from an oral cancer screening in Sparta.
Diagnosing Oral Cancer Stages
If your dentist confirms you have oral cancer, they’ll assign a stage to it. These stages are:
- Stage 1: This phase describes the early start of oral cancer. It occurs when your tumor is no more than 2 cm, and the illness hasn’t spread to the lymph nodes.
- Stage 2: Oral cancer moves to stage two when your tumor is 2-4 cm, but cancer cells still haven’t spread to the lymph nodes.
- Stage 3: At stage three, your tumor may be larger than 4 cm while not spreading to the lymph nodes. On the other hand, it could be any size and have spread to one lymph node.
- Stage 4: Stage four is the most advanced form of oral cancer. It happens when your tumor’s cancer cells have spread to nearby tissues, lymph nodes, and other body parts.
Oral Cancer Prevention
As part of the screening, your dentist may talk about ways you can prevent oral cancer.
For example, they might suggest you stop or avoid using tobacco products. Items like cigarettes, cigars, and pipes cause DNA damage, producing cancer cells. As such, you should quit smoking them to lower your oral cancer risk.
On the other hand, a dentist may say you should curb your alcohol habit. Alcoholic beer, wine, and spirits irritate your mouth and thus raise your odds of getting oral cancer.
Oral Cancer Treatment
Lastly, your dentist will lay out possible treatment options for your oral cancer. The most common ones include the following:
Oral Surgery
Oral surgery could remove your tumor and any cancerous lymph nodes. However, this option only works best when the cancer is in its early stages.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy is when a doctor aims radiation beams at your tumor once or twice daily, five days a week, for two to eight weeks.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is a treatment that uses drugs to kill cancer cells. A doctor will have you take medicine either orally or through an intravenous (IV) line.
As you can see, an oral cancer screening in Sparta is an essential part of your dental checkup. Make sure to get one when you next visit your dentist
About the Practice
Gentle Dentistry Sparta is based in Sparta, NJ. As led by Drs. Zelia Cannon and James Shahinian, our dental practice offers quality and comfort. To that extent, we perform preventive, cosmetic, and restorative dentistry, not to mention emergency procedures. Whether it’s a tooth cleaning or an oral cancer screening, you can count on Gentle Dentistry! For more information or to book a visit, you can reach us on our website or by phone at (973)-729-9044.