Oral-Cancer

Read This. It May Save Your Life.

You have reached the most important page on this website

If you remember nothing else, remember this:

You should have an oral examination at least once a year, even if you have no teeth.

Preventing Oral Cancer

Any kind of chronic, constant irritation is bad.

( both physical and psychological! )

And chronic irritation in the mouth is especially

bad.

If you have a tooth that has chipped a little, causes your cheek or tongue to be sore once in a while, but otherwise doesn't bother you...

If you have a denture that is a little loose, and rubs a spot on your gum once in a while, but not enough for you to have them fixed...

If you bite your cheek once in a while, always in that same spot, but it seems to get better by itself...

If you have a habit of chewing on your cheek or lip because of stress...

If you use an alcohol-based mouthwash a lot, which burns your mouth like crazy so you think that must be good...

If you drink hard liquor regularly...

If you're out in the sun a lot, and your lips get burned often...

and finally, you know the main culprit...

If you smoke cigarettes or chew tobacco, but keep telling yourself that you'll quit someday...

You are at an increased risk of getting oral cancer.

Why?

The mouth doesn't respond to chronic irritations, like your skin.

When doing hard physical labor regularly, your damaged skin will develop a nice, leathery callus to protect the deeper cells from further damage.

With occasional trauma (like a burn from hot pizza), your mucosa (mouth lining) cells will die and slough off (peel away). The healthy cells beneath them multiply, and these new cells rise to the surface to become the new lining. It works great.

Unlike skin, in the mouth repeated irritation never forms a skin-like callus. You just loop into a repeated cycle of cell damage, death, sloughing off, multiplication and replacement. And this can work well for a long time, too.

But occasionally, a constantly multiplying cell's DNA (which holds the genetic info) can become damaged. The result is genetic data corruption. Like your computer, the cell will probably shut down and die, or your immune system may recognize the problem and kill it off. But maybe not.

Unlike your computer, the cell may survive but no longer respond to normal body controls telling it to stop multiplying. The resulting out-of-control growth is Oral Cancer.

The odds are that it won't happen, but you sure can turn these odds in your favor by not having that irritation in your mouth anymore. The more you roll the dice, the greater the odds of that bad combination coming up.

And the prevention may be as simple as smoothing down a sharp tooth, or denture, which is far better than seeing an oral surgeon for a biopsy, then sitting by the phone for a week waiting to find out whether or not you're life will be changed forever. Talk about a "no-brainer".

Have an oral exam once a year, even if you have no teeth.