16 October 2024

What is Oral Cancer Screening?

What is Oral Cancer Screening?

As a resident of Leicester or nearby, you might imagine that your local dental or cosmetic clinic – such as Knighton Dental Practice – would offer such procedures as teeth straightening, dental implants, and veneer treatments. What you might not have associated the typical East Midlands dental clinic with, is screening for oral cancer.

The statistics tell their own saddening story about how seriously we all need to take mouth cancer. This disease affects around 650,000 people a year worldwide, and it causes more deaths in the UK each year than road traffic accidents.
At our Welford Road clinic, we include a mouth cancer screening in every dental examination we undertake. So, what does this form of screening involve, and is oral cancer screening worth it? Below, we explain all.

Is oral cancer screening worth it?

Yes, oral cancer screening can be very much worth it. Here at Knighton Dental, we stress that routine checkups every six months are crucial for safeguarding oral health, including when it comes to spotting potential early signs of oral cancer.

The trend for more people to be diagnosed with mouth and throat cancers over recent years has drawn attention to the need to detect such conditions as early as possible. Achieving this may help maximise the chances of successful treatment and long-term survival.
Although the five-year oral cancer survival rate is around 68%, the situation can vary greatly between individuals, based on wide-ranging circumstances such as age, gender, and ethnicity.

It is hoped that intervention at an earlier stage with regular mouth cancer screenings by dentists and medical professionals, can help save more lives. Indeed, you may especially benefit from oral cancer screening if any of the known risk factors apply to you – such as tobacco use, heavy alcohol use, and/or previous oral cancer diagnosis.

How to do oral cancer screening?

When you attend Knighton Dental Practice in Leicester for your examination, our dentist will keep a lookout for the common symptoms of mouth cancer. These signs could include – but may not be limited to – red and white patches on your mouth’s soft tissues and palate, lumps in your mouth or throat, and/or changes to how your teeth bite together.

It is important to point out that none of these symptoms can be interpreted as an automatic sign of mouth cancer. Nonetheless, it is well worth being alert to them. If, after checking your mouth, our dentist suspects cancer, they can refer you to a specialist.

Combine regular checks by a dentist with periodic self-examination, and you could be greatly helping to pick out those potential early signs. The Mouth Cancer Foundation provides a useful guide on how to do oral cancer screening yourself via monthly self-checks. Again, though, we would emphasise that this should be additional to – not instead of – a clinician’s examination.

Do dentists screen for oral cancer?

Yes, they do! Many dentists – including our professionals in Leicester – routinely check for potential early signs of mouth and oropharyngeal cancer during checkups with their patients.

There have been many instances down the years of dentists being the first people to spot symptoms that ultimately turn out to be attributable to oral cancer. In any given case, there is a strong likelihood of certain concerning symptoms not being cancerous; nonetheless, it is good practice to be vigilant, in case further investigation is needed.

Where to go for oral cancer screening?

The inclusion of a mouth cancer screening “as standard” in every dental examination at Knighton Dental Practice, means you don’t need to consider any alternative dental clinic in Leicester when you are eager to put your mind at rest about possible symptoms of this disease.

It can also be the case, of course, that you entirely miss certain symptoms that a dentist is able to notice and investigate. Remember that the earlier potential signs are picked up, the sooner you can undergo treatment if it becomes apparent that this is necessary.

If you have questions about mouth cancer screening in Leicester or any of our services at Knighton Dental Practice, please contact us. It is also a straightforward process to use our online system to book an appointmentwith one of our clinicians.