April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month

Oral cancer screening is an important examination performed at each of your appointments with Dr. Yap and Dr. Chen where we look for signs of cancer or precancerous conditions in your mouth. The goal of oral cancer screening is to detect mouth cancer or precancerous lesions that may lead to mouth cancer at an early stage — when cancer or lesions are easiest to remove and most likely to be cured.

People with a high risk of oral cancer may be more likely to benefit from oral cancer screening, though studies haven’t clearly proved that. Factors that can increase the risk of oral cancer include:

• Tobacco use of any kind, including cigarettes, cigars, pipes, chewing tobacco and snuff, among others
• Heavy alcohol use
• Previous oral cancer diagnosis
• History of significant sun exposure, which increases the risk of lip cancer