My husband and I attended a fundraiser/walk yesterday in Birmingham, Michigan to support the Oral Cancer Foundation.
Some facts:
Oral cancers are part of a group of cancers commonly referred to as head and neck cancers and comprise about 85% of these cancers. (Brain cancer is a cancer category unto itself, and is not included in the head and neck cancer group).
Close to 45,750 Americans will be diagnosed with oral or pharyngeal cancer this year causing over 8,650 deaths, killing roughly 1 person per hour.
The death rate associated with this cancer is particularly high due to the cancer being routinely discovered late in its development.
Often oral cancer is only discovered when the cancer has metastasized to another location, most likely the lymph nodes of the neck. Prognosis at this stage of discovery is significantly worse than when it is caught in a localized intra oral area.
This is why the quick and simple oral cancer examination that your dentist does during your routine cleaning is so important……and why regular dental checkups are so important.
An expert in the field of Oral Cancers spoke at the event about risk factors. He mentioned that the combination of tobacco use with alcohol use was particularly problematic. This prompted me to do some additional research on oral cancer given the high prevalence of the two behaviors occurring together.
Those who both smoke and drink, have a 15 times greater risk of developing oral cancer than others. Research suggests that alcohol enhances the permeability of tobacco carcinogens causing this compounding risk.
I have been in the tobacco cessation business for nearly a decade. People quit smoking for a number of reasons and are motivated by a number of vastly different factors. There is no way to determine what might “move” a customer during their appointment. So, we throw a bunch of stuff at the wall to see what “sticks.”
The information about the combined use of tobacco and alcohol and the corresponding increased risk of oral cancers “stuck” with me. And, just maybe, it will motivate an individual to quit smoking or using smokeless tobacco products sooner than later.
If you need further convincing about the horrors of oral cancer, just “Google” it and click on “Images.”
For this post, I kept the image far less disturbing. You’re welcome.
So interesting. I have never heard of the term oral cancers before, but it all makes sense after this post. My great uncle had throat Cancer from smoking his whole life and his voice was extremely hoarse. I didn’t realize that the dentist was looking for symptoms of what could be Cancer. What a scary thought!! I’m so glad I didn’t start smoking like my parents and brother did!