Oral Cancer Is On The Rise

Sedaros Oral Facial Surgery & Dental Implants wants to help you when it comes to Oral Pathology in Melbourne, Florida. Common names oral cancer includes such things as mouth cancer, tongue cancer, tonsil cancer, and throat cancer. “Approximately 40,000 people in the US were newly diagnosed with oral cancer in 2012. This includes those cancers that occur in the mouth itself, in the very back of the mouth known as the oropharynx, and on the exterior lip of the mouth. This is the fifth year in a row in which there has been an increase in the rate of occurrence of oral cancers, in 2007 there was a major jump of over 11% in that single year,” The Oral Cancer Foundation reported.

“There are two distinct pathways by which most people come to oral cancer. One is through the use of tobacco and alcohol, a long term historic problem and cause, and the other is through exposure to the HPV-16 virus (human papilloma virus version 16), a newly identified etiology, and the same one, which is responsible for the vast majority of cervical cancers in women,” according to The Oral Cancer Foundation.

According to the American Cancer Society, men face twice the risk of developing oral cancer as women, and men who are over age 50 face the greatest risk. There are risk factors that can contribute to the development of oral cancer, which include:

• Smoking—cigarette, cigar, or pipe smokers are six times more likely than nonsmokers to develop oral cancers.
• Smokeless tobacco users—users of dip, snuff, or chewing tobacco products are 50 times more likely to develop cancers of the cheek, gums, and lining of the lips.
• Excessive consumption of alcohol—oral cancers are about six times more common in drinkers than in nondrinkers.
• Family history of cancer
• Excessive sun exposure, especially at a young age

If you have any of the symptoms of oral cancer, then give our staff at Sedaros Oral Facial Surgery & Dental Implants a call to schedule an appointment and see how we can help relieve this pain!