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Oral Cancer

Research
Paper

Ryan Sexton
Epidemiology
10:30
Research Paper

Oral Cancer
Oral Cancer is a very serious disease, which most people underestimate and
overlook. What exactly is oral cancer? First of all cancer is defined as the uncontrollable
growth of cells that invade and cause damage to surrounding tissue. Therefore Oral
cancer would appear as the growth or sore in the mouth that simply just does not go
away. Oral cancer can include cancer of the lips, tongue, cheeks, floor of the mouth, hard
and soft palate, sinuses, and the throat. All of these cancers can certainly be life
threatening if not diagnosed and treated early. Some ways to know if you may have a
type of oral cancer is to check for the following symptoms: Also if you have any of these
symptoms, and they have lasted more than two weeks, it is very important to make an
appointment with your dentist, or healthcare provider.

Swelling/thickenings, lumps or bumps, rough spots or eroded areas on the lips,

gums, or other areas inside the mouth


Velvety white, red, or speckled patches in the mouth
Unexplained bleeding in the mouth
Ear pain
Dramatic weight loss
A change in the way your teeth fit together
Difficulty chewing or swallowing, speaking, or moving the jaw or tongue

Obviously we all know that cancer is nothing to joke about, but it seems like
people do not take oral cancer as serious as breast cancer, or prostate cancer, or brain
cancer. Believe it or not, a lot of people do die from oral cancers. Each year, more
than 30,000 new cases of oral cancer and pharynx are diagnosed and over 8,000
deaths due to oral cancer occur each year. 50% of people diagnosed with oral cancer
usually have a five-year survival rate before they die.(CDC.gov.) Mouth cancer is one
of several types of cancers grouped in a category called head and neck cancers.
Mouth cancer and other head and neck cancers are actually often treated similarly.
There is not really a defined specific age to when people get diagnosed with oral
cancer. It can really happen anytime, but research has shown that a majority a people
are at greater risk after the age of forty years old. All ethnicities are at risk for oral
cancer but research shows that white males are diagnosed more often than any other
race. (CDC.gov)

Risk Factors for getting oral cancer include the following:

Tobacco: Tobacco use accounts for most oral cancers. Smoking cigarettes,
cigars, or pipes; using chewing tobacco; and dipping snuff are all linked to
oral cancer. The use of other tobacco products may also increase the risk.
Heavy smokers who use tobacco for a long time are most at risk. The risk is

even higher for tobacco users who also drink alcohol heavily. (cancer.gov)
Alcohol: People who drink alcohol are more likely to develop oral cancer
than people who do not drink. The risk increases with the amount of alcohol
that a person consumes. Risk increases even more if the person consumes
both alcohol and tobacco. (cancer.gov)

Sun: Cancer of the lip can be caused by exposure to the sun. Using a lotion or
lip balm that has sunscreen can reduce the risk. Wearing a hat with a brim can
also block the suns harmful rays. The risk of cancer of the lip increases if the
person smokes tobacco as well. (Cancer.gov)

Once a person is diagnosed with oral cancer of any kind, there is a small selection
of treatment methods. Certain factors affect a patients prognosis and treatment
options. Prognosis depends on the following: The stage of cancer, where the
tumor is in the lip or oral cavity, whether the cancer has spread to blood vessels.
There are four stages of oral cavity cancer;

Stage 1: stage one cancer has formed and the tumor is two centimeters or

smaller. Cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes (cancer.gov)


Stage 2: tumor is larger than two centimeters but not larger than four and

cancer has not spread to lymph nodes (cancer.gov)


Stage 3: the tumor may be any size and has spread to one lymph node that
is three centimeters or smaller, on the same side of the neck as the tumor

(cancer.gov)
Stage 4: Stage four is divides into three stages; IVA, IVB, and IVC.
Basically IVA the tumor is any size and has spread through tissue in the lip
or oral cavity and is now in the bone, such as the jaw. IVB tumor is any
size and has spread further into the muscles or bones in the oral cavity, and
IVC the tumor has spread beyond the lip to distant parts of the body such
as the lungs. (cancer.gov)

After the patients stage of cancer is determined, than three options of treatment are
recommended, Surgery, Radiation therapy, and Chemotherapy. Basically surgery is where
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the doctors remove the cancer in a surgical operation. Radiation therapy is cancer
treatment that uses high energy x-rays or other radiation to kill cancer cells.
Chemotherapy is treatment that uses drugs to stop the growth of the cancer cells and
stops them from dividing and spreading.
In a research study that I found, the study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of
tobacco related practices on oral health tribes in Central India. The use of smokeless
tobacco, gutkha and associated product is on the rise amongst the younger generation
making oral precancer and cancer a public health concern. Some methods conducted in
the study included a pioneering study to evaluate the tobacco related practices amongst
tribes and its impact on oral health. The study included 411 tribe members of the Baiga
group. The result of the study was 53.04% of individuals between 21 to 40 years of age
are addicted to deleterious habits. There is a marked consumption 72% of tobacco and
associated products among the geriatric population. Insecure livelihoods, malnutrition,
and increased stress levels contribute to the stark of addiction of tobacco related products.

Reference Page
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Human papillomavirusassociated
cancersUnited States, 20042008. MMWR 2012;61(15):258
261http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/hpv/statistics/headneck.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/oralcancer.html
Elverne M Tonn, DDS on May 13, 2012
2012 WebMD, LLC. http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/oral-cancer

Centers for Disease Control AND Prevention


http://www.cdc.gov/OralHealth/topics/cancer.htm
Jansen Christopher, Department of pathology, School of medicine
http://cro.sagepub.com/content/15/5/252.full
Lip and Oral Cavity Cancer Treatment
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/lip-and-oralcavity/Patient/page2
Sunali Khanna, Nair hospital Dental College, Maharashtra University of Health sciences
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23083419

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