Ask Our Dentists: About Oral Cancer

Updated: September 12, 2014

Q:My friend was recently diagnosed with late-stage Oral Cancer. This startled all of us. She does not smoke and lives a healthy lifestyle. This was a wake-up call for ME and her whole family. Is there anything we can do to catch early signs?

Dr. Adam Lalonde

ANSWERED by DR. ADAM LALONDE:

Yes, Oral Cancer CAN BE detected early! You are very wise to be thinking about this. Here at Los Fresnos Dental Center, we now offer Oral Cancer screenings to all our patients as part of their dental exam & check-up, free of charge. We utilize the Oral ID system which is a simple, painless, 2 minute exam that allows us to identify oral abnormalities not visible to the naked eye. In short, this exam can SAVE your life. Here are the most recent startling facts:

40% of new diagnosis are young, non-smokers
50% have a 5 yr survival rate
63% of oral cancers are found in late-stage & 8,000 deaths due to this late diagnosis
Men are twice as likely to develop oral cancer
1 out of 3 women will develop cancer in their lifetime

One of the reasons we invested in & recently implemented the Oral ID system is: “The number of oral cancers has increased over a 6 yr period, where all other cancers have declined.”

Oral Cancer is officially an epidemic & early detection is critical. For more information, call our office or visit us at www.losfresnosdental.com.