April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month and our office wants to help end oral cancer! According to the Oral Cancer Foundation, mouth cancers are newly diagnosed in about 145 new individuals each day in the US alone, and a person dies from oral cancer every hour of every day. These numbers are heartbreaking, especially because the fastest-growing segment of oral cancer patients are young, healthy, nonsmoking individuals. According to the World Health Organization, the worldwide burden of oral cancer is an estimated 657,000 new cases each year, and more than 330,000 deaths. Oral cancer doesn’t stop, but we won’t either. We take oral cancer very seriously. With every cleaning here at Philly Dentistry, our patients are examined for oral cancer. This is something we have always done and will continue to do.
Most people neglect oral cancer and don’t realize how deadly it is. That is why it is important to catch it early. Biyearly visits to the dentist are imperative for maintaining good health. In addition to your bi-yearly visits, you can perform self-examinations at home too! These self-examinations should be done once a month to ensure everything is looking healthy. Check out Oral Cancer Foundation’s website that explains step by step how to examine yourself for oral cancer. They even include a video demonstration and photos of what to look out for.
If you are seeing anything in your mouth that resembles these photos, give us a call immediately. From there, we will have you come in for a professional examination. The doctors are trained to determine what is cancerous or dangerous to your health. Your job is to check in on yourself regularly and refer yourself to our team if anything seems off. We are here to help keep you healthy!
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