Oral cancer includes cancers of the lips, tongue, floor of the mouth, cheeks, throat (pharynx), sinuses, and hard and soft palate. While oral cancer can usually be successfully treated when detected early, most cases of oral cancer are not detected until they have progressed into a more serious, advanced stage, which can be life threatening. At our office, we are dedicated to doing all we can to detect and treat oral cancers and other abnormalities in their earliest possible stages. During your routine dental cleanings and exams, our dentists and team will perform an oral cancer screening to check for signs of oral cancer. Instead of a traditional visual exam, we have reengineered fluorescent visualization technology that allows us to detect oral cancer before the signs are overt and more pronounced symptoms have appeared. We have also replicated this technology so that we can provide a screening to every patient in every room, meaning these screenings are available to all of our patients.
The following are common symptoms of oral cancer: