Save Yourself and Visit Your Dentist

Thursday 28th January 2010 

Some of us (although we may not admit it) will put off an annual trip to the dentist in order to delay the need for that filling that fell out a couple of months ago. However, the Oral Cancer Foundation in America is now urging people that there is so much more to a dentist check-up than the need for fillings. Going to the dentist could quite literally save your life if you are developing life-threatening diseases such as oral cancer.

With 35,000 Americans being diagnosed with oral cancer a year and a further 8,000 of these dying from the disease, early prognosis of the disease is potentially lifesaving. As with most types of cancer, if left untreated for a certain period of time the chances of recovering become far slimmer. Therefore, the Oral Cancer Foundation are urging people to ask their dentists for an oral cancer screening next time they visit them; but are also trying to increase peoples own awareness of the symptoms of oral cancer. Certain symptoms include things such as; tenderness within the mouth, thicker tissue developing around the neck and mouth area, unusual spots and feeling like something has stuck in ones throat. If you are concerned and have some of these symptoms, an oral cancer examination at your dentist is very quick, painless and will put your mind at rest.

By knowing the symptoms of oral cancer you could detect the disease at the beginning and ensure it is treated quickly and efficiently; equally, a regular dentist check-up could also pick up on any tell-tale signs of the disease. The Oral Cancer Foundation stress that oral cancer is just one of the things that could be detected through a regular dental check-up; other mouth related ailments can be proficiently picked up by your dentist and treated accordingly. Perhaps that filling doesn’t seem that bad now after all….

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