Oral Cancer Screenings during Dental Exams Are Complimentary from Your Dentist

When you visit your dentist for routine exams and cleanings, you receive more than what you assume. The dentist in Brampton, ON, besides looking at your dental health for signs of cavities and gingivitis, also looks inside your mouth for other issues unknown to you.

The Brampton dentist checks for signs of red-and-white patches or mouth sores using gloved hands. The dentist proceeds further to feel the tissues in your mouth, checking for lumps and abnormalities that have nothing to do with your dental health. If you decide to inquire into why the dentist is probing around you, receive information you are undergoing oral cancer screenings in Brampton, ON, as a complimentary gesture from the dentist.

Why Oral Cancer Screenings during Routine Dental Exams?

The dentist’s actions may confuse you to wonder why the dentist is performing oral cancer screenings when you have scheduled an appointment for dental exams and cleanings. Is the dentist trying to extend the work to charge extra fees? Has the dentist discovered something abnormal in your mouth to necessitate the additional examination?

While you may not have answers to the questions yourself, you undoubtedly become startled when informed the dentist is conducting the screening test to determine whether you have mouth cancer. Of course, the term cancer is dreadful to scare even the most strong-hearted. However, suppose you express fear because of oral cancer screening near you instead of expressing distress or anxiety. In that case, you must thank your dentist for ensuring you undergo a preventive exam of your mouth, neck, tongue, throat, and all parts of your body associated with your mouth checking for oral cancer. Dentists perform the exam during every six-monthly dental visit to ensure you are not affected by any conditions that can prove detrimental going ahead.

Why Are Dentists Concerned with Oral Cancer?

The goal of oral cancer screenings is to detect signs of oral cancer early when this condition is successfully treatable if caught in the initial stages. Dentists are professionals you regularly visit for routine cleanings and exams, making them optimal to screen your mouth entirely for signs of oral cancer.

When you undergo an oral cancer test, it doesn’t mean you are affected by this terrible problem. It is just a method of ensuring the disease never comes close to or enters your mouth to cause unnecessary complications. If dentists detect irregular patches or growths, they refer you to further tests if required.

If you visit Rosedale dental Center for routine exams, the charges for oral cancer screenings are included in the dentist’s fees. It ensures you don’t have to spend extra for the screening completed in under five minutes. In addition, the complimentary exam from the dentist will ease fears in your mind knowing you don’t have any suspicious problems that may surprise you later.

Is Oral Cancer Screening Necessary?

Oral cancer screenings aimed to detect mouth cancer or precancerous lesions that may result in mouth cancer early when cancer or lesions are easily treatable and likely to deliver positive outcomes. However, no evidence is available to prove oral cancer screening is beneficial to save lives. Therefore not everyone admits the need for this particular exam when undergoing dental exams and cleanings. Some groups recommend the exam, and others saying sufficient evidence isn’t available to suggest oral cancer screenings are essential.

If you are at a higher risk of oral cancer, you will likely benefit from oral cancer screening from your dentist. Some of the factors that make you susceptible to oral cancer include the following:

• Using tobacco in any form, including cigars, pipes, cigarettes, snuff, chewing tobacco, et cetera.
• Having earlier oral cancer diagnosis.
• Excessive alcohol use.
• Significant exposure to sunlight making you susceptible to lip cancer.

Incidences of oral cancer are increasing steadily over the last several years without sufficient reasons for the rise in numbers. Many people affected by oral cancer fall prey to cancer associated with the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus.

When visiting your dentist for routine dental exams and cleaning, expect to undergo an oral cancer screening exam as a complementary gesture on the dentist, which requires no additional time and doesn’t impose any extra fees on you. In reality, the dentist is spending some time on you ensuring your mouth and dental health stays in optimal condition without any unexpected issues bothering you.