Each year, more than 30,000 new cases
of oral and pharyngeal cancer are diagnosed and over
8,000 deaths due to oral cancer occur. The 5-year survival
rate for these cancers is only about 50 percent. Mortality
from oral cancer is nearly twice as high in African-American
males as it is in whites. Methods used to treat oral
cancers (surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy) are disfiguring
and costly. Avoiding high-risk behaviors, that include
cigarette, cigar or pipe smoking, use of smokeless tobacco,
and excessive use of alcohol are critical in preventing
oral cancers. Early detection is key to increasing the
survival rate for these cancers.
What are the signs and
symptoms of oral cancer?
• A mouth
sore that fails to heal or that bleeds easily
• A white or red patch in the
mouth that will not go away
• A lump, thickening or soreness
in the mouth, throat, or tongue
• Difficulty chewing or swallowing
food
What factors put me at
risk of developing oral cancer?
• Tobacco
use
• Excessive alcohol consumption
• Viral infections
• Immunodeficiency
• Poor nutrition
• Excessive exposure to ultraviolet
light (lip cancer)
• Certain occupational exposures
How is oral cancer
detected?
Most early signs of oral cancer are
painless and are difficult to detect without a thorough
head and neck examination by a dental or medical professional.
A thorough head and neck examination should include a
visual inspection and finger exploration of the tongue,
floor of the mouth (under the tongue), palate (roof of
the mouth), salivary glands, lymph nodes, insides of
the cheek, and the back of the throat. The tongue should
be moved to allow for the inspection of its sides and
base. Your dental or medical provider should perform
routine head and neck examinations, especially if you
use tobacco or excessive amounts of alcohol.
The information provided on this Web page is general
background information and should not be construed as
CDC recommended practice or guidelines, except where
official recommendation or guideline documents are specifically
mentioned.
ORAL
CANCER on-line RESOURCES
The Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and
the American Cancer Society (ACS) among
others, provide many on-line cancer resources.
Please make sure you visit their constantly updated
websites, reflecting the latest scientific findings
and visit the links for more information about
cervical cancer.
More details, including medically
graphic images, can be found at the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. Please
click here
The National Cancer Institute (NCI)
has up-to-date information for patients and practitioners
about oral cancer. To go to NCI main web page please
click here
“What You Need
To Know About™ Oral Cancer” the NCI booklet,
helps you to learn oral cancer symptoms, diagnosis,
treatment, and questions to ask your health care
provider. To read the publication, constantly updated,
online on the NCI website, please
click here
The American Cancer Society (ACS)
is
the nationwide community-based voluntary health organization
dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem
by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing
suffering from cancer, through research, education,
advocacy, and service.
To get to the ACS oral cancer information pages please
click here
MedlinePlus - Oral Cancer
link
MedlinePlus will direct
you to information to help answer health questions. MedlinePlus
brings together authoritative information from NLM, the
National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government
agencies and health-related organizations. MedlinePlus
also has extensive information about drugs, an illustrated
medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials,
and latest health news. Please make sure you check the
MedlinePlus online for cervical cancer with an extensive, constantly updated
resource list. Please
click here
This section has pdf (Adobe Acrobat
format) files of useful resources created by various
agencies that can be downloaded directly from the
pacificcancer.org website. The organization, year
of publication and size of the pdf file are listed.
The South
Pacific Comission (SPC) Fact Sheets tobacco and betel
nut offer a quick
2 to 4 pages overview on key issues. Kept in simple black and white, SPCFact
Sheets can be printed and used as handouts, student resources or photocopied
for distribution. Click on the file to download the pdf versionof Fact Sheet
Nr. 15: Tobacco & Betel
Nut
“What You Need To Know About™
Oral Cancer” NCI 2006, 53 pages (pdf 1MB). To download the
pdf file please
click here
ASCO Answers:
Oral Cancer ASCO
Answers is a series of fact sheets that provides
an introduction to a specific type of cancer. Each
fact sheet is a PDF that includes an overview of
what the cancer is, an illustration of where the
cancer starts, how it is treated, terms to know,
and questions to ask the doctor.
American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2008. 2 pages (pdf 292K). To download
the pdf please
click here
International Agency
for Reseach on Cancer - IARC Screening
Group resource list please
click here
Acknowledgment: This
text is adapted from the CDC website
