April is Oral and oropharyngeal cancer awareness month. For decades has been an annual increase in cases and there is no national screening policy or protocol.
The 2 main causes of Oral cancer are tobacco and alcohol use and HPV 16 (human papillomavirus). 53,000 people in the US will be diagnosed with OC in 2019. Early diagnose has an 80 – 90 % survival rate but late diagnoses have a 43% death rate at 5 years.
The only weapons we have to save lives are prevention with an oral and oropharyngeal examination, education and research.
Please don’t miss your periodic examination and x-ray with the dentist and primary care physician.