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Oral cancer: Vital to detect it early

Posted on 21 May 2014

Kuching : Early detection of oral
cancer is often possible and tissue changes in the mouth which often can
be seen and felt easily might signal the beginning of cancer.

According
to a dentist from Normah Medical Specialist Centre, Dr Shahneza Ahmad,
there are warning signs that might signal oral cancer and a person can
do self checking at home to watch out for these early signs or early
lesions.

Any white or red lesion (white or red patch) that does
not resolve itself in two weeks should be re-evaluated and need
diagnosis, she said.

To conduct self intra-oral examination, under
lots of light, she said the person must look for signs of atypical
development of the mouth’s tissues, such as nodules, ulcer, atypical
growth, red and or white patches, as well as black patches.

As in
extra-oral examination, findings of atypical development of tissues do
not necessarily imply the presence of the cancer, she added.

She
pointed out that after the finding, it is recommended that monitoring be
done for two or three weeks as in most cases, such alterations tend to
resolve within this time frame.

It if persists after this period, a visit to the dentist or the oncologist is strongly advised.

“Oral
cancer is caused by uncontrollable growth of cells in the mouth. At
risk are chronic smokers who smoke 20 or more cigarettes a day for many
years, betel nut chewers, and those excessively consuming alcohol, and
those with family history of cancer,” she said when presenting a talk to
more than 60 people at the State Library here yesterday.

It is
important to detect oral cancer early when it can be treated more
successfully as those who detect it late more often will die from the
disease, she pointed out.

She also mentioned that oral cancer
awareness is still generally low and that more efforts needed to be done
to create awareness of oral cancer and early detection.

She also talked on other common dental problems like tooth decay and caries, gum swelling and bleeding, and tooth crowding.

She said tooth decay is the world’s oldest and most widespread disease.

To prevent tooth decay, she said it is important to brush our teeth at least twice a day with fluoride toothpaste.

“It
is necessary to use toothpaste containing fluoride to prevent cavity.
Flossing is highly recommended to clean between teeth before brushing.

“Unfortunately, the awareness of using dental floss is still very low,” she said.

As
for gum swelling and bleeding, she said common causes include
gingivitis which is inflammation of gum, infection by a virus or fungus,
poorly fitting dentures, pregnancy, allergy and side effect of a drug.

“Similar
to tooth decay prevention, it is important to floss and brush your
teeth twice a day especially during the night,” she said.

On teeth
crowding, she said causes are oral habit of thumb sucking, mouth
breather, pacifier sucking habit; early loss of primary teeth (before
time of shredding); small arch, with large size of teeth.

She said
if thumb sucking persists after the primary teeth have erupted, it can
change the growth patterns of the jaw, and cause significant
misalignment of the teeth.