April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month, and I want to make sure my dental patients in Little Falls are aware of its causes, and how to prevent it.
If you smoke or use tobacco in any form, and/or abuse alcohol, your risk of getting oral cancer can be as much as 300 times higher than that of non-users. (Source: National Institutes of Health, 2006)
Another major risk is HPV, or the human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted virus that can cause genital cancers in both men and women. It can also cause oral cancers, and is becoming as critical a risk factor as tobacco and alcohol.
I use a tool called a VELscope® for oral cancer screening. It uses a blue light that shows me any unusual cells in the layers of the tissue in your mouth. It’s well-tested, safe, and approved by the World Health Organization. In order be preventive, I use this tool to screen every patient, every time.
Oral cancer isn’t hard to detect. The problem is that it often isn’t detected until it’s in an advanced stage. If you haven’t had a dental checkup recently, call our Little Falls dental office at 973-256-5001 today. Prevention is your key to a lifetime of health and well being!
