Online Oral Cancer Quiz

Knowing is half the battle and knowing early gives you a better chance at victory!  At your next dental appointment ask your dentist for an oral cancer exam.  Many dentists are making this a routine part of every dental examination, so you’ll want to make sure that you are receiving this service with each dental examination.

For those that have not had an oral cancer exam recently, there is also an oral cancer quiz that you can take that might shed some light on the situation.  According to Medical News Today:

Having regular dental exams is the most important step, but knowing what to look for between check-ups is also critical.

Cigna Healthcare provides a short quiz that will test your knowledge on oral cancer.  Click here to view the oral cancer quiz.

Knowing is half the battle.

“Together we fight oral cancer. Together we save a life every hour.“

Explaining Head and Neck Cancer

Often times when we think of oral cancer we will automatically focus on cancer of the mouth. However, to understand oral cancer more thoroughly, you must understand head and neck cancer. Head and neck cancer describes where the cancer originates.

MD Anderson provides the following list on the areas that head and neck cancers usually occur:

• Oral cavity (mouth, lips, gums, cheeks, tongue, tonsils and mouth floor)
• Salivary glands
• Nasal cavity / paranasal sinuses / nasopharynx
• Throat / pharynx
• Larynx / voice box

If you begin to experience a lump or sore in any of these areas that is not healing, a sore throat that will not go away, trouble swallowing or a change in your voice or hoarseness, you should visit your physician immediately.

Green Tea and Oral Cancer

All too often we hear of things we must take out of our diets in order to decrease the risk of cancer. But what if I told you that by adding something to your diet, you could decrease the risk of oral cancer?

Green tea has been known to help with:

• Heart Disease
• Arthritis
• Liver Disease
• Weight Management
• Tooth Decay
• Cancer

A recent study from MD Anderson reveals that:

Green tea extract may prevent oral cancer in patients with oral leukoplakia, a pre-malignant condition that develops on the tongue or inside of the cheek in response to chronic irritation or tobacco carcinogen exposure.

In this study researchers took a test group of people that are at high risk for oral cancer and and gave three different doses to each along with placebo tests.  Following the entire testing process they found that 50% had clinical results. Of the 41 that participated, only 15 ended up developing oral cancer.

The study yielded encouraging results:
•    58.8% of patients receiving the two highest doses had a clinical response (50% or more reduction in the size of all measured areas of oral leukoplakia)
•    36.4% of patients receiving the lowest dose had a clinical response
•    18.2% of patients receiving a placebo had a clinical response

All of these results prove one thing… more research is warranted.

Click her to view the full-page article on Green Tea.

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Photo Courtesy of: The Inquisitr