Dr. Jyoti Wadhwa

The big ‘C’ or cancer is the most dreaded disease, but in most types of cancer, an early diagnosis can stop the progression of the disease and cure it. Mouth cancer or oral cancer is one such type of cancer that can be treated and cured is diagnosed in its early stage.

This type of cancer can affect any part of the mouth including the lips, tongue, throat, salivary glands, sinuses, larynx and pharynx. Some of the symptoms to look out for are:

1. Velvety red, white or speckled lesions on any part of the mouth
2. Lumps or patches in and around the mouth and throat
3. Sores that do not heal within 2 weeks and bleed easily
4. Swelling of the lips or gums
5. Pain and tenderness in the mouth
6. Numbness in any part of the mouth, face or neck
7. Difficulty moving the tongue or jaw that affects chewing, swallowing or speaking
8. Loose teeth
9. Unexplained bleeding in the mouth
10. Prolonged soreness or hoarseness of the throat
11. The feeling of something being stuck in your throat
12. Pain in one ear without any loss of hearing
13. Drastic weight loss

Some people have a higher risk of suffering from mouth cancer than others. Some of these risk factors are:

1. Men have twice the risk of developing oral cancer as compared to women.
2. Men above the age of 50 are at the highest risk
3. Cigarette, cigar or pipe smokers have a higher risk of developing oral cancer than nonsmokers
4. Chewing tobacco products and other such smokeless tobacco can also increase the risk of oral cancer
5. Excessive alcohol consumption makes a person more vulnerable to this disease
6. Family history of cancer
7. Excessive exposure to UV radiation from the sun at an early age
8. Certain strains of Human papillomavirus (HPV).

Visiting a dentist regularly can dramatically reduce your chances of suffering from mouth cancer. Ideally, an oral cancer screening should be performed once every 3 years up to the age of 40 and annually from there on. This is because a dentist will be able to examine your mouth and see parts that you cannot see easily. In case he suspects oral cancer, a biopsy may be needed to further confirm the diagnosis.

Further tests such as blood tests, X-ray and scans may also be needed. The smaller the ulcer, the easier it is to cure. Oral cancer can be treated with surgery to remove the tumor or through radiation and chemotherapy. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a Dentist.

Causes and symptoms of Head and Neck Cancer

My name is Dr. Manish Julaha and I practice Head & Neck Oncosurgery. Today I'll tell you some facts about Head and Neck cancer how to predict them early. So in India approxiately 1.2 million cancer patients are detected every year, and out of this one thirds of the number occur in head and neck, mainly oral cavity and throat. And this is a very big number if you compare with rest of the countries because head and neck cancer they account for less than 10% in western countries and less than 4% in U.S. So what is the cause of such high number of head and neck cancers in India. It is mainly the use of tobacco and another sad fact about head and neck cancer in India is that majority of the patients, you can say more than 65% are present in stage 3 or stage 4. And we say cancer is curable if it is detected early and when patients presents to us in such late stages it effects all the paramaeters like overall survival, treatment outcome, side effects, functional outcome, quality of life everything is affected. And when patients come in early stage, the treatment is less invasive with less side effects and the functional outcome is very good and the chances of recurrence is very less.

So what can we do to detect head and neck cancer at the earliest. We can do this if we've the knowledge of the signs and symptoms which hint towards the head and neck cancer and by doing self examination. So what are the early signs and symptoms. They're mainly any ulcer in the oral cavity which dosen't heal in three weaks or any lump in the lung or oral cavity, any red or white patches in the oral cavity, or there maybe unexplained earache or nasal blockage, mainly on one side, specially with blood stained mucous discharge, ill fitting of denture because of any swelling in the gums. So, these are the early signs and symptoms. If we find any such thing we should take expert opinion. And by doing self examination we can detect head and neck cancer at the earliest. I would say all those people who're at a high risk of getting head and neck cancer they should do the self examination at least once a month. So who're the people who're at high risk of getting head and neck cancer. Most importantly those who use tobacco in any form, then elderly people above the age of 45 and people who have exposure to ionizing radiation in past, and people who have had head and neck cancer in the past they're at high risk of getting a second cancer so they should also be very careful.

Now, how to do this self examination. It is very simple, to do this you've to stand in front of the mirror and you've to feel both the lips, upper lips and lower lips, using your thumb and index finger feel both the lips and by pulling them outward you've to see the inner lining of the upper lip and lower lip and also you have to look at the upper gums and lower gums. And using your thumb and index finger pull your cheek and look at the inner lining of your cheek on both sides and look for any ulcer or lump or any red or white patches. Now just open your mouth and say "aaa" and while saying "aaa" just look at the throat and also at the roof of the mouth. Then by touching your tongue on the back of upper teeth have a look at the under surface of the tongue and the floor of mouth. Then pull your tongue outward and look at it's upper surface, by moving the sideways look at the sides also. Again look for any ulcer or lumps or any red or white patches and you have to examine your neck also. Just by standing straight palpate below the jaw bone and above the collar bones, and by moving the head backwards look for any asymmetry of the neck, if there is any fullness on one side as compared to the other side, there maybe some lump. If you find any such thing just take expert opinion.

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