- The worldwide annual incidence of Oral Cancer is greater than 300,000
- Detection of this disease has typically occurred too late to implement treatment
- It is only through early detection that these rates can be improved
Oral cancer survival rates have not improved over the last 50 years. Why? Because we are not “seeing” the development of oral cancer until it becomes “frankly” apparent under our usual visible light observations. To further complicate this challenge, the classic population of “at risk” oral cancer patients have changed over the last few years, and suddenly the possibility of developing oral cancer is not just limited to tobacco users and people over age 40.
Various technologies have been developed over the past 20 years and new ones are being developed. Each one aims to provide the ultimate goal: to help improve our ability to identify potential lesions well in advance of them becoming “deadly”. Some are more effective than others in this fight against cancer and new technologies are being developed.
Learn:
- The oral anatomy, proper examination of the patient.
- The challenges our profession has had in effectively identifying cancer in its earlier stages.
- The various technologies currently available that can help in this identification so that you and your doctor will be able to improve the odds and help identify potential cancer lesions years before they can become cancer.
- What types of identification systems we may be employing in the near future.