Cancer is a disease characterized by an abnormal growth and spread of malignant cells.  It can set up home in any part of your body–some areas being more susceptible to it than others.  While many types of cancer are often in the news–breast cancer, lung cancer, and skin cancer for example–one that is often overlooked is oral cancer, but can be just as serious.  Unfortunately, in the early stages, oral cancer is painless and therefore can go unnoticed.

As with many cancers the main thing to remember about oral cancer is that it can be cured if caught early and treated.  As a matter of fact, oral cancer has one of the highest cure rates of cancers!  This is why we perform an oral cancer screening at every dental hygiene (cleaning) appointment.

Dr. Donnelly is a member of the Board of Directors for the Jack T. Clark Foundation.  Their mission is to improve the public’s oral health by promoting early detection and prevention of oral cancer in conjunction with the education of patients and healthcare providers.  Oral cancer strikes an estimated 35,000 people annually in the United States.  A person dies from oral cancer in the U.S. once every hour of every day.  When detected early, the survival rate of oral cancer is 80-90%.  Unfortunately, the majority of cases are detected as late stage cancer, and the survival rate is currently only 45%.

While everyone should be concerned, smokers and heavy drinkers have the highest incidence of oral cancer.  Smokeless tobacco users also have a significantly higher risk.  The best way to reduce your risk is to stop these harmful habits.

Everyone is different, but there are some common warning signs and symptoms of oral cancer.  If you notice any of the following please contact your dentist for a screening immediately:

* A sore on your gums, lips, tongue or inside your cheek that doesn’t heal within two to three weeks.

* White, scaly patches inside your mouth or on your lips.  The patch may have a “leathery” appearance.

* Any unusual swelling or lump in your mouth, neck, tongue or lips.

* An unexplained numbness or pain in your mouth or throat.

* Repeated oral bleeding with no apparent cause.

Medical technology keeps moving at lightning speed, and the same is true for dentistry.  Just as you’ve heard about the use of lasers in medical care, these state-of-the-art machines are being used more in dentistry.  Laser dentistry minimizes bleeding as the high-energy light beam helps with quick blood clotting.  Bacterial infections are minimized because the laser beam sterilizes the area.  Damage to surrounding tissues is minimized as well, and wounds tend to heal faster.

Here are some ways we use lasers in the office to help our patients:

Hard Tissue (tooth) Laser Dentistry:

*There is a low intensity dental laser than can detect cavities even earlier.

*Hard tissue dental lasers may eliminate the need for a local anesthetic injection and the traditional turbine dental drill for some fillings and tooth preparation.

*Dental lasers may be used to seal tubules responsible for hot and cold tooth sensitivity.

Soft Tissue (gum) Laser Dentistry:

*Lasers may be used when crown lengthening is needed.  This is when gum tissue needs to be reshaped to expose healthier tooth structure.

*They can also be used to reshape gum tissue to expose healthy tooth structure and improve the appearance of gummy smile.

*A laser frenectomy helps children who are tongue tied and babies unable to breast feed adequately due to limited tongue movement.

*Denture wearers can benefit from dental lasers when they are used to painlessly remove soft tissue folds caused by ill-fitting dentures.

Other Dental Laser Uses:

*Lasers are being used to speed up certain whitening procedures.

*Dental lasers may be used to painlessly remove benign oral tumors.

*Low intensity dental lasers can be used to treat cold sores, reducing pain and shortening the heal time.