Factors Increasing Oral Cancer Cells in Your Mouth

Oral cancers are developments in any part of your oral cavity. Oral cancers can occur on the lips, gums, tongue, inner lining of the cheeks, the roof of the mouth, and the floor beneath the tongue. Cancers occurring on your mouth’s insides are called oral cavity cancer.

Mouth cancer is one of many different cancers categorized together and called head and neck cancers. However, treatments for all cancers of the head, neck, and mouth are similar.

What Are the Symptoms of Oral Cancer?

If you develop oral cancer, you have challenges when swallowing because of pain, lumps or growths inside your mouth, mouth pain, ear pain, loose teeth, white or reddish patches on the insides of your mouth, and lips or mouth sores that are challenging to heal.

When to Contact a Medical Professional for Oral Cancer Detection?

Suppose you have any conditions described in the symptoms. In that case, you will likely think it unnecessary to schedule appointments with oncologists because you may think oral cancer cannot happen to you. However, if you are diligent with your dental hygiene and schedule regular appointments for cleaning and exams, you receive oral cancer screening in North Port, FL, without realizing it. Dental professionals are trained to screen for oral cancer and look for all the anomalies described during your routine visits.

You shouldn’t concern yourself about oral cancer screenings because they are a routine procedure that the dentist completes within five minutes. In addition, dentists don’t charge you extra for oral cancer screenings and include them as part of your visit to examine and clean your mouth.

Oral Cancer Screening — What Do Dentists Look for?

Among various healthcare providers, your dentist is the professional you meet regularly or at least once in six months, making them your best defense against oral cancer. Oral cancers develop when your mouth or lip cells cause mutations in their DNA. The DNA has instructions for the cells, telling them what they must do. The mutational changes encourage cells to continue growing and dividing to cause the death of healthy cells. It is when the accumulating abnormal cells form a tumor. Over time, the cells may spread inside the mouth and to other areas of the head, neck, and other body parts.

When dentists perform oral cancer screening, they look for flat thin squamous cells lining your mouth and the inside of your lips. Oral cancers in the mouth are usually squamous cell carcinomas. Dentists can detect squamous cell carcinomas and changes to your lips and gums that aren’t healing or expanding during subsequent visits. When matters related to your oral health are concerned, your dentist is a professional recognizing your entire medical and dental history, making them optimal to detect early signs of oral cancer that may aggravate if left untreated.

Risk Factors for Oral Cancer

Various factors can increase your risk of oral cancer. Some of them are noted below for your reference.

If you wish to reduce the risks of oral cancer, the dental office in North Port, FL, suggests avoiding excessive alcohol consumption and exposure to sunlight to your lips. Oral cancer can make you a victim if you have a weakened immune system making it essential to care for your overall health appropriately. Tobacco use in any form, whether cigarettes, pipes, cigars, chewing tobacco, snuff, et cetera, are all significant contributors to oral cancer. The sexually transmitted disease human papillomavirus also makes its presence felt in oral cancer diagnosis among many people.

Precautions for Oral Cancer

Unfortunately, there are no proven techniques to prevent oral cancer. However, if you want to avoid visits to the emergency dentist near you inquiring about mysterious developments on or in your mouth that don’t heal, you can use the following precautions to reduce your risks of oral cancer.

• Tobacco Consumption: If you are already a tobacco user, stop immediately. If you haven’t used tobacco, don’t ever consider starting. Tobacco in all forms exposes your mouth cells to dangerous cancer-causing chemicals.
• Use Alcohol in Moderation: Chronic consumption of alcohol excessively irritates the cells of your mouth to make them vulnerable to mouth cancer. If you must have alcohol do so in moderation, limiting yourself to 2 drinks per day if younger than 65 and one drink per day if over 65. Men are more susceptible than women to oral cancer and must adhere to the precautions suggested diligently.
• Sunlight Exposure: if your work requires you to remain in sunlight for Excel. Consider wearing a broad-rimmed hat to feel your face and entire mouth from sunlight. Using lip sunscreen as part of your Sun protection plan also helps.
• Dental Visits: Do not avoid your routine exams every six-month with Dr. David R Smith, where your mouth is examined, looking for signs of oral cancer and recommending appropriate treatment if any anomalies are detected in your mouth.

If you want to avoid unnecessary complications like oral cancer from affecting you, we recommend you schedule an appointment with shore dental every six months to have peace of mind that no severe issues bother you.