Oral cancer is cancer on your lips, gums, soft tissue, insides of your cheeks, tongue, and the top of your mouth. Your dentist is often the one to diagnose oral cancer, because your dentist is the one looking at the inside of your mouth on a regular basis. Oral cancer makes its first appearance as a lesion inside your mouth. If Dr. Reagan Grizzle suspects oral cancer, he will refer you to a trusted oral surgeon for a biopsy and treatment.
While we do not completely understand every cause of oral cancer, several risk factors increase your chances of having oral cancer. Alcohol use and tobacco use are the two biggest risk factors. When you use both alcohol and tobacco, your chances of getting oral cancer increase dramatically. Men get oral cancer more than women and recently, scientists linked the HPV (human papillomavirus) to increased risks of oral cancer.
Constant irritation from ill-fitting dentures increases your chances of getting oral cancer. If you or a loved one has ill-fitting dentures, call our office and we can help.
Dr. Reagan Grizzle performs an oral cancer screening at each exam because early treatment and diagnosis helps to avoid the most disfiguring treatments and increases your chances of survival.