An important thing to remember about being a patient at Aria Dental is that caring for your teeth is only part of our job. Our concern is for your overall oral health, which includes checking for signs of oral cancer; that’s why an oral cancer screening is part of every dental checkup.

When one of our dental hygienists is examining your mouth prior to cleaning, among the things she or he will look for are indications of possible cancer on the lips, gums, inner cheeks, surface, and underside of the tongue, and the roof and floor of the mouth.

Among the possible warning signs a hygienist looks for are red or white patches, sores that bleed easily or refuse to heal, thick or hard spots, lumps, and areas that have become rough or encrusted. Sometimes, a change in the way your teeth meet when you bite down may be an indicator. If anything irregular is found, the hygienist will notify the dentist, who will further assess the situation. 

What happens when a warning sign is found

The thing to keep in mind here is that any of the irregularities we’ve mentioned so far are only indications that you MIGHT have an oral malignancy. Neither a hygienist nor dentist can diagnose oral cancer, so the simple finding of a concerning situation is no cause for alarm. The American Dental Association has very helpful guidelines to assist both dentists and patients when a possible cancer indicator is found:

• A dentist might have a patient come back after a couple of weeks, to see how the problem area is doing. If everything has healed up, odds are there won’t be any additional testing to do. 
  
• A dental colleague or medical doctor may be brought in for a second opinion. Based on that consultation, a biopsy might be performed; a biopsy, in which tissue some tissue from the suspicious area is removed and analyzed, is the only way to rule cancer in or out.
  
• Throughout the process, your dentist will continue to review all of your options in detail, making sure you understand exactly what’s going, so you can make the best, fully-formed decisions about your care.
  

You can lessen the possibility of something turning up during your oral cancer screening by being responsible about personal habits. If you use tobacco, stop. Cigarette, pipe, and cigar smokers are at particular risk for oral cancer; the same goes for smokeless tobacco users. Heavy drinkers are also at risk, as are people whose mouths are repeatedly overexposed to the sun (that can lead to lip cancer).

We’ve been performing oral cancer screenings in Annapolis for a long time, and we take them very seriously; they’re an important part of the comprehensive examination our patients get with every checkup.