According to an estimate, 50,000 people this year are going
to be diagnosed with oral cancer. And 9,000 among them are going to die. One
thing worth mentioning here is that an effective way to ensure prevention from
this disease is to go for oral screening regularly. Although oral cancer is
more of a scary topic to talk about, you can prevent it by working on
preventive measures. Having that said, below mentioned are some facts which
describe occurrence of oral cancer and the ways you can deal with it.
The oral cancer
Oral cancer, like other types of cancers, occurs due to
abnormal growth of cells. Oral cancer is basically associated with the lack of
proper production or division of cells. As a result of this condition, the
formation of unwanted tissues occurs.
The consolidation of these unwanted tissues is what we commonly refer to
as tumor. There are two types of oral cancer. One type is related to the oral cavity. The cancer starts spreading from the mouth and travels in outward
direction. Another type of cancer is oropharyngeal cancer. This cancer is
formed in the throat area and it also spreads in outward direction.
Common symptoms
There are a lot of symptoms of oral cancer. The most common
ones are mentioned below.
- Swelling and bumps on the gums and other inner parts of the oral cavity
- Sores on the throat and face. Such sores seem to be on the brink of bleeding
- Bleeding in the mouth and throat that one may not be able to explain
- Soreness and discomfort in the back of throat
- Weight loss
- Pain in the ears
- Difficulty in eating foods
- Red and white patches in the mouth
- Loosening of teeth
The risk factors
You need to keep an eye on the risk factors in order to stay
away from them if you really don’t want to be caught by oral cancer.
The first thing that you will need to avoid is the use of
tobacco products. We all know how bad the smoking is. Yet, many people don’t
seem to find any help from anywhere when it comes to avoiding or getting rid of
this habit.
Use of alcohol is another major reason for the oral cancer
to develop in the mouth. Drinking can result in dry mouth which can make things
dangerously adverse to oral health.
HPV (Human Papillomavirus) Infection can be another reason
for oral cancer. Although, many types of HPV do not cause cancer, there are a
few common ones which do.
Preventing oral
cancer
Although there are treatment options available but we are
talking about prevention. Prevention is better than cure due to obvious reason
that prevention doesn’t involve extensive and advanced procedures which are
normally required to treat oral cancer. Typically, you can get oral cancer
screening from your dentist during regular dental checkups.
