According to the Oral Cancer Foundation:

“Close to 43,250 Americans will be diagnosed with oral or pharyngeal cancer this year.  While some think this is a rare cancer, mouth cancer will be newly diagnosed in about 115 new individuals each day in the US alone, and a person dies from oral cancer every hour of every day.  If you add the sub category of laryngeal throat cancers, the rates of occurrence (about 12,000 additional new cases per year) and death are significantly higher.  When found at early stages of development, oral cancers have an 80 to 90 % survival rate.  Unfortunately at this time, the majority are found as late stage cancers, and this accounts for the very high death rate of about 43% at 5 years from diagnosis (for all stages combined at time of diagnosis), and high treatment related morbidity in survivors.  Late stage diagnosis is not occurring because most of these cancers are hard to discover, it is because of a lack of public awareness coupled with the lack of a national program for opportunistic screenings which would yield early discovery by medical and dental professionals.  Worldwide the problem is far greater, with new cases annually exceeding 640,000.”

As your dental care team, we can ensure you that all patients at Valley Dental Group receive a proper intra/extra oral exam.  Valley Dental Group believes it is the standard of care that all our patients during a comprehensive exam and periodic exam receive a thorough intra/external oral exam (aka: oral cancer screening).  We also offer the Vizi-lite Oral Cancer screening, which helps detect oral cancer in the early stages.  If you have any concerns, please make sure to talk with your dentist.