RAPID CITY, S.D.— About 54,000 cases of oral cancer are diagnosed each year in the U.S. And the person most likely to catch it early, your family dentist. Dr. Mark Garner with Orchard Meadows Family Dental says, “Usually the first step of finding oral cancer is at the dentist office. Because honestly, people see their dentist more regularly than they do their physicians, and we look at the oral structures more than anybody else.”
Unlike many other cancers, screening for oral cancer is quick and painless. Dr. Garner says, “Part of the standard of care in south dakota is screening for oral cancer. When you do regular dental examinations, there’s different ways to screen for it. There’s a visual test where we can just kind of look and make sure all the tissue looks normal and healthy. Or there’s other ways to do it, like in our office, we use what we call a vel scope, and it’s a specific wavelength of light that we look through that’s designed to see the basal layer of cells underneath the exposed layer of cells in your mouth, and it helps us to be able to detect abnormalities sooner than we would normally be able to see it with our eyes.”
And like most cancers — early detection can make a big difference. Dr Garner says, “Oral cancer is just like any other cancer in your body, the sooner you detect it, the better off you’re going to be. Oral cancer five year. Survival rate is getting higher and higher these days, but it spreads. Typically spreads pretty quickly, and so the sooner you find it, the better you’re going to be.”
And during Oral Cancer Awareness Month — Orchard Meadows is offering free screenings through April.
