dentist – Oral Cancer News

Oral health professionals promote ‘value of having a dentist on the cancer care team’

Source: www.healio.com Author: Jennifer Byrne When planning their next steps after a cancer diagnosis, most patients don’t put a trip to the dentist at the top of their to-do list. “When patients are diagnosed with cancer, they just want to put out the fire; they want to address the cancer,” Dalal Alhajji, DMD, MSD, clinical instructor of oral and maxillofacial pathology, radiology and medicine at NYU College of Dentistry, said in an interview with Healio. “That’s when I say, ‘the reason you need to see a dentist is, we want to put out another potential fire — one you might not know about yet.” Alhajji and her colleagues at NYU College of Dentistry are part of a small but growing movement among oral health professionals seeking to close the gap between medical and dental care for patients with cancer. They see dentists as a vital component of any multidisciplinary oncology care team, offering infection treatment, protection of teeth during head and neck radiation treatments, and quality-of-life care for issues such as dry mouth and mouth sores. “I’ve been lucky — the oncologists I work with have been great about referring patients to me because they see the impact it has,” Alhajji said. “They see the value of having a dentist on the cancer care team.” Addressing preventable issues There are several reasons for a patient with cancer to see a dentist prior to initiating cancer treatment, but patients with head and neck cancers and those slated to undergo bone marrow [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-08-25T07:43:11-07:00August, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

One in Two Have Never Heard of Oral Cancer

Source: Cancer Prevention Research Introduction: Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES) community, one of poorest locales in Canada, has shown to be high-risk for oral mucosal abnormalities, including oral cancer. From our previous study, this community not only exposes to high-risk factors but has also high incidence of oral cancer: one oral cancer patient identified in 150 screened dental patients. This is much higher comparing to the rest of Canada and the US (1:10,000). Studies have shown that regular dental care is related to early-staged oral cancer detection. Traditionally dentistry is within the private health sector and access to dental service can be challenging to the DTES residents. Objective: 1) To determine the frequency of oral cancer risk behaviors; 2) To explore the available social assistant program to dental care; 3) To assess the dental care service utilization and its potential barriers in the DTES. Methods: To increase access, mobile screening clinics are set up at 3 main gathering locations: Vancouver Native Health Society (VNHS), Women's centre (WC) and LifeSkill's Centre (LC). Eligibility includes those of age 18 or over, reside in DTES at least for the past 3 months, and are able to sign a consent to participate. Using person-to-person interview, questionnaires for demographics, risk behaviors, perceived dental health status, available health care assistance programs, and dental care service utilization are used collect data. The oral health status is obtained through dental and oral mucosal examination by a dentist and an oral pathologist respectively. Each participant is given an incentive package [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-03-12T11:57:27-07:00March, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

New Jersey Dentist Involved in Lawsuit After Patient Dies of Metastatic Tongue Cancer

Source: MyCentralJersey.com The dentist of a local firefighter who last year died of cancer at the age of 33 is being sued by the man’s estate, which accuses him of failing to warn his patient quickly enough that an tongue abnormality could have been a troubling sign of a bigger problem. Steven M. Runyon, who grew up in Manville before moving to Somerville, died of metastatic tongue cancer on Aug. 13, 2010, just eight days after his wife of four years, Colleen, gave birth to the couple’s fourth child. But the lawsuit alleges that Runyon’s dentist, Francis Barbieri Jr., first noticed a “raised area” on his patient’s tongue in December 2008 — nine months before he first was diagnosed with cancer — and failed to advise him to look into it further. Runyon returned to Barbieri for another appointment in June 2009, when the dentist noted visible changes to Runyon’s tongue, and he went back for follow-up sessions three times that summer, the lawsuit indicates. But it was only during the final visit, in August, that Barbieri finally referred him to Somerset Oral Surgery for an evaluation and biopsy, according to the allegations. Runyon subsequently underwent “extensive” treatment by various physicians in various locations — suffering “severe pain, physical disfigurement, mental anguish and suffering,” the suit states — but died less than a year later. Barbieri did not return a phone call placed to his office last week. The dentist has an office on East Main Street in Somerville and [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-10-04T15:16:39-07:00October, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Dentist is out $80k for legal fees in Yelp case

Source: Dr.Bicuspid.com A California dentist who lost a defamation case over negative reviews on Yelp.com must pay $80,000 in attorney fees to a young patient's parents, whom she sued, according to a court ruling issued May 12. In January 2009, San Francisco Bay Area dentist Yvonne Wong, DDS, filed a lawsuit against Tai Jing and Jia Ma, the parents of a young patient who had been treated by Dr. Wong, after the father posted a negative review on Yelp.com. Dr. Wong contended that the review defamed her by implying that she didn't inform the boy's parents about alternatives to the use of amalgam and nitrous oxide and didn't spot cavities that needed treatment. She also named Yelp in the suit. The key issue in the case was whether the review stepped over the line from discussing a topic of public interest to defamation. Dr. Wong subsequently won the first round of the legal wrangling when a judge ruled the case had sufficient legal merit to be tried. The case then went to an appellate court, which found that consumers can post reviews of businesses on websites such as Yelp.com because they contribute to public discussion about controversial issues such as the use of dental amalgam. That ruling found that the Yelp review was protected under California's anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) law, which preserves the right to speak out on public issues. As a result, all claims against Yelp, Jing, and Ma were dismissed. Now Santa Clara Superior Court [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-19T13:59:49-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

More than 100 people receive free oral exams, courtesy of the City of Gulfport.

Source: Gulfport.Patch.com The Walgreen’s parking lot in Gulfport became a dentist office for a day. And instead of paying a fee for a clinical exam, patients were seen for free. "I was very surprised because screenings of any kind are minimum of $35 to $50 dollars, so that was very nice. They advertised it very well," St. Petersburg resident Rosalind Dunlop said. This is the second year the City of Gulfport’s sponsored a free oral cancer screening The goal: to inform, educate and refer people to seek additional medical help if any signs are detected. "We have volunteer dentists, it takes a couple of minutes, there's no pain involved and it may save your life," Gulfport Vice Mayor David Hastings said. "It's a free exam, basically we've had all sorts of people come in. Some people regularly go to the dentist, I had one person, it had been 17 years since they had been to the dentist. So, all sorts of people that have come in and I think we found, two that I've found that just need to be referred," Dentist Lawrence N. Klein said. "Last year, we screened over 200 and we referred nine people out. This year, I've already seen about five referral sheets going out. It's not good to get the referral sheet, but on the same hand, it may be the thing that saves your life," Hastings said. "It's your responsibility to take care of your own health. If you don't want to know, I'm [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-04-27T15:54:14-07:00April, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

HPV is now the leading cause of oral cancer in the US: learn the facts.

Source: New York Daily News HPV, otherwise known as the human papillomavirus, is a leading cause of cervical cancer for women but the nasty virus is now causing a spike in oral cancer and ravaging an entirely different group: men. Cases of oral cancer resulting from exposure to the HPV-16 strain of the virus are hitting epidemic proportions in the U.S., doctors say. Though the mention of oral cancer evokes images of gravely-voiced chain-smokers, the disease now has a new face: mostly white, male, non-smokers in their late 30s and early 40s. The tumors forming on the back of their tongues and tonsils have nothing to do with nicotine – they are directly linked to engaging in oral sex with multiple female partners. "If you've had more than five or six sexual partners, you are at a higher risk," Dr. Eric M. Genden, professor and chair of head and neck surgery at Mount Sinai Medical center told the Daily News. "We're only now beginning to see the beginning of a bell curve." Women can get it from men as well although their chances are lower, according to doctors. The human papillomavirus (HPV), a nasty bug with strains that causes genital warts and cervical cancer in women, is now the top cause of oral cancer in men, beating out smoking and drinking, according to reports from the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of Oncology as well as other research and treating institutions. The number of smokers in the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-04-21T13:52:00-07:00April, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Dental professionals join The Oral Cancer Foundation to raise awareness as HPV is now the primary cause of Oral Cancers in America

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., April 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A serious change in the cause of oral cancer is taking place nationally, and its implications are impacting the American public in a manner that a decade ago no one would have predicted. For decades, oral cancer (also known as mouth cancer, tongue cancer, tonsil cancer, and throat cancer) has been a disease which most often occurred in older individuals, who during their lifetimes had been tobacco users. Most cases were ultimately the result of lifestyle choices. Today that paradigm has changed. A common, sexually transferred virus has replaced tobacco as the number one cause of oral cancers, Human Papilloma Virus number 16 (HPV16). This is one of the same viruses that are responsible for the majority of cervical cancers in women. This year alone, approximately 37,000 Americans will be newly diagnosed with oral cancer, and one person will die every hour of every day from this disease. HPV16, one of about 130 versions of the virus, is now the leading cause of oral cancer, and is found in about 60% of newly diagnosed patients. Dr. Maura Gillison from the James Cancer Center, a long time researcher of the relationship between HPV and oral cancers, recently reported these new findings at the American Academy for the Advancement of Science meeting. This change in etiology, which has accelerated its influence over the last two decades as tobacco use in the US simultaneously was declining, has also changed the demographics of who is getting [...]

Charlotte Parker2011-04-07T10:39:32-07:00April, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

New dentist test to detect oral cancer will save lives

Source: The University of Sheffield Author: Lauren Anderson A new test for oral cancer, which a dentist could perform by simply using a brush to collect cells from a patient´s mouth, is set to be developed by researchers at the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The international research team, involving scientists in Sheffield, has been awarded $2 million from the USA´s National Institutes of Health to develop the test, which could provide an accurate diagnosis in less than 20 minutes for lesions where there is a suspicion of oral cancer. The current procedure used to detect oral cancer in a suspicious lesion involves using a scalpel to perform a biopsy and off-site laboratory tests which can be time consuming. The new test will involve removing cells with a brush, placing them on a chip, and inserting the chip into the analyser, leading to a result in 8-10 minutes. This will have a number of benefits including cutting waiting times and the number of visits, and also cost savings for the NHS. The team in Sheffield, led by Professor Martin Thornhill, Professor of Oral Medicine at the University of Sheffield and a Consultant in Oral Medicine at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, has begun carrying out clinical trials on patients at Charles Clifford Dental Hospital for two years to perfect the technology and make it as sensitive as possible. If the trials confirm that the new technology is as effective as carrying out a biopsy then it could [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-08-22T17:55:41-07:00August, 2010|Oral Cancer News|