About Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A

This author has not yet filled in any details.
So far Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A has created 2444 blog entries.

Is green tea the way to better oral health?

Source: www.healthcanal.com Author: staff Drink up! We all know that Brits love a good cup of tea and now a new report shows that it could actually have a positive effect on our teeth and gums. The study, which examined the dental health of 940 men, found that those who drank green tea regularly had better oral health than those who consumed less. Male participants, aged 49–59, were examined on three indicators of gum disease: researchers found that for every cup of green tea consumed per day, a decrease in all three indicators occurred. Chief Executive of the Foundation, Dr Nigel Carter, welcomed this new research and said: “Any new study which brings dental healthcare into the spotlight is a step in the right direction. “Like any study of a relatively small number of people we can never be certain of the results – but because tea is relatively cheap and easily available we must take notice of studies of this type and we at the Foundation will continue to watch and report on this and similar stories.” The British Dental Health Foundation has previously reported on studies which show a connection between drinking green tea and decreasing the growth of cancer cells in the body. The Foundation stresses that early detection is key to beating mouth cancer, Dr Carter added: “Without early diagnosis the chances of survival plummet down to 50 percent.” Around 5,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with mouth cancer each year, making it the UK’s [...]

2010-05-15T13:52:54-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
Read More

New optical oral cancer screening device should be developed

Source: worldental.org Author: staff Oral cancer is on the rise all around the world. According to the American Cancer Society there are almost 130,000 lethal cases that are attributed to this cancer disease annually. As such the need is every growing to better develop the methods for detecting oral cancer at an earlier stage. There is no satisfactory mechanism that currently exists to screen and detect early changes of the oral cavity in the general population. The situation is even more challenging in low resource areas and in developing countries, where a combination of the lack of expertise and the inadequate resources for oral cancer screening can mean even longer diagnosis delays, which can lead to higher mortality and morbidity. Oral cancer screening normally involves visual inspection of the entire tissue surface at risk under white light illumination. However, a number of oral cancer screening products have been designed to improve diagnostic outcomes have been commercialized and developed. Researchers continue to experiment with new and better ways to more accurately locate and distinguish potentially malignant lesions using advanced optical technologies. However, developing countries pose unique a challenge when it comes to a device that can be used by individuals with limited clinical expertise that is affordable. The goal is to provide a cost effective opportunity for oral cancer screening that will work with the persons available in those health systems. That means that you have to have a very low cost, battery powered device. No one has developed on yet [...]

2010-05-14T16:09:40-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
Read More

New model for oral cancer/tobacco research

Source: www.upi.com/Health_News Author: staff A carcinogen in tobacco smoke is being used in oral cancer research to provide a more relevant model to understand the disease, U.S. researchers say. Joseph Guttenplan of the the New York City College of Dentistry and Dr. Karam El-Bayoumy of the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine say smoking is understood to be one of the leading causes of oral cancer, but research on oral cancer in has been limited to using synthetic carcinogens manufactured especially for cancer research, instead of examining the carcinogens that occur in tobacco smoke. The researchers injected low, medium and high doses of dibenzo(a,l)pyrene, a carcinogen in tobacco, into the mouths of 104 mice. After 38 weeks, one group of the mice developed excessive numbers of mutations in their oral tissue and within one year, 31 percent of a second group of mice displayed large tumors in their mouths. "As a result of this study, we now have a model that is significantly better than past models which relied on synthetic carcinogens," Guttenplan says in a statement. "We plan to use this new model in future studies to examine potential agents for cancer prevention." The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Washington.

2010-05-14T14:40:06-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
Read More

Smokeless tobacco can take you out of the game

Source: www.healthcanal.com Author: staff Another baseball season is under way and fans are heading to the ballpark to watch their favorite players hit home runs, steal bases, and argue over what's fair and foul. Marshall Posner, MD, says that the first step in reducing oral cancer risk is to avoid tobacco use altogether. Unfortunately, they will also see something else that many consider to be "foul" — players chewing tobacco. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Massachusetts Dental Society (MDS) are partnering to spread the word that chewing tobacco, otherwise known as spit, dip, chew, or smokeless tobacco, is not a safe alternative to smoking. In fact, it's very addictive and a serious health risk. According to a Massachusetts survey released earlier this spring, teens may be turning away from cigarettes to other forms of tobacco, including smokeless tobacco. The report was funded by the United States Centers for Disease Control and conducted by state education and health departments. The survey asked middle- and high-school students about their tobacco habits and found that for the first time, students are using smokeless tobacco and cigars more than cigarettes. Of those high-schoolers who were surveyed, 16 percent admitted to smoking cigarettes in the past 30 days, while 17.6 percent admitted to using other tobacco products, such as smokeless tobacco. "Chewing tobacco is the most dangerous form of tobacco because it comes in contact directly with the oral mucosa," states David P. Lustbader, DMD, an MDS Trustee and an oral and maxillofacial surgeon at [...]

2010-05-14T14:39:59-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
Read More

Plastic surgery gives ‘ green’ doctor his tongue & voice back

Source: www.thefreelibrary.com Author: staff His lifelong mission has been to save trees. He used to spend a lot of time delivering lectures, shouting slogans and transplanting trees. But three months ago, all this came to an abrupt end as Dr Nitin Pandey was diagnosed with tongue cancer of the second stage. A paediatrician by profession, he could hardly speak and doctors at the Capital's Max hospital had no option except chopping off half his tongue carrying the deadly cancer cells But thanks to reconstructive plastic surgery, Pandey has now got not only a new tongue but also his voice back. Today he is back doing what he loves best -- creating awareness about our vegetation at his hometown in Dehradun. But all this would have been impossible had not the doctors at the hospital made a timely intervention. "Generally people chewing tobacco and tobacco products suffer from tongue cancer. But Pandey was unfortunate that he caught the disease without using tobacco. We had to perform a surgery to remove his left half of the tongue," said Dr Vedant Kabra, consultant surgical oncologist at the hospital. After half his tongue was removed, Pandey could neither speak nor drink or eat. Hence, a reconstruction became necessary. Doctors carried out a complex 10- hour surgery to help Pandey speak again. "We took tissue from his forearm and reconstructed his tongue. The arm has two arteries and it can do with one only. So we took an artery from the forearm along with a [...]

2010-05-09T10:32:37-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
Read More

Robotic surgery for oral cancer

Source: speech-language-pathology-audiology.advanceweb.com Author: Advance, Vol 20, Issue 2 A minimally invasive surgical approach to treat benign tumors and select malignant tumors in adults has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The da Vinci Surgical System, developed by head and neck surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, in Philadelphia, has been cleared for transoral otolaryngologic surgical procedures. Gregory Weinstein, MD, FACS, and Bert O'Malley, Jr., MD, founded the first TransOral Robotic Surgery (TORS) program in the world at Penn Medicine in 2004. They developed and researched the TORS approach for a variety of robotic surgical neck approaches for both malignant and benign tumors of the mouth, larynx, tonsil, tongue, and other parts of the throat. Since 2005, approximately 350 patients at Penn have participated in the first prospective clinical trials of TORS. The trials compromise the largest and most comprehensive studies of the technology on record. "TORS has dramatically improved the way we treat head and neck cancer patients, completely removing tumors while preserving speech, swallowing, and other key quality-of-life issues," said Dr. O'Malley, chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Penn Medicine. "It is very exciting that a concept conceived and tested at PENN and taught to surgeons and institutions within the U.S. and internationally has been officially recognized by our federal governing agencies and peers around the world as a new and improved therapy for select neck cancers and all benign tumors." As many as 45,000 Americans and approximately [...]

2010-05-09T10:23:23-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
Read More

Fluorescent probe for oral cancer

Source: www.physorg.com Author: UC Davis Approximately 43,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with tumors of the mouth, pharynx and larynx each year. The main risk factor is smoking, but a recent rise in cases has been linked to human papillomavirus. Most cases are not diagnosed until the cancer has reached an advanced stage. "There's a lot out there about breast, prostate and brain cancer, but people are not so aware about oral cancer and its devastating consequences," said Laura Marcu, a professor of biomedical engineering at UC Davis. "People don't think to look for it, and there isn't any routine screening." Marcu's laboratory collaborated with Dr. Gregory Farwell's group in the Department of Otolaryngology at the UC Davis Cancer Center to develop the fiber-optic probe. The probe stimulates molecules in the patient's tissues with a laser. Some of these molecules naturally respond by re-emitting fluorescent light. The device rapidly detects and analyzes this light using a process called "time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy" (TR-LIFS), which provides information about the types of molecules present. During surgery, blood can distort the intensity of the fluorescence signal but not its duration. By using sensitive measurements of the change in fluorescence over time, surgeons can see the tumor margins even as they are cutting the tissue. Based on encouraging results in animal tests, Marcu and Farwell's team recruited nine human volunteers from among patients who arrived at the UC Davis Medical Center for surgical therapy of the mouth, throat and larynx. They compared readings from [...]

2010-05-09T10:14:42-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
Read More

Prosthetics advancements giving some patients a new look on life

Source: www.wmbfnews.com Author: staff Doctors call it a cancer you cannot hide -- head and neck cancer. South Carolina has one of the highest rates in the country, claiming ears, eyes, noses, and other parts of the face. What is cut away for the patient's life to be saved, often has horrific consequences, but a team at the Medical University of South Carolina is using science, art and medicine to help patients literally put a new face on their disease. Gary Reeves is a patient who has found new confidence with his prosthetic ear. The Conway minister shows no embarrassment when he pulls off his silicone prosthetic ear. It's part of his daily routine. His prosthesis was custom made for him at MUSC. Reeves was born without a right ear, although most often, ear patients come to the MUSC clinic following cancer. "It's silicone," said Reeves. His prosthesis was custom made for him at MUSC. He is willing to tell his story, to help the many people who suffer injuries to the face, or cancer. "I think head and neck cancer is the most devastating form of cancer," says Dr. Betsy K. Davis, "because it's the one form you cannot hide from society." Davis is the director of the Maxillofacial Prosthodontic Clinic at the Medical University of South Carolina. In fact, cancer brought Dawn Wright to the clinic. The woman from Pawley's Island lost her right eye to ocular melanoma in February of 2009. That meant she had to wear [...]

2010-05-09T10:06:57-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
Read More

Cancer risk reduction study reports green tea extracts may protect against oral cancer

Source: baileyshealthstore.wordpress.com Author: staff Over 50 per cent of participants in the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center study experienced a clinical response to the green tea extracts, according to findings published in Cancer Prevention Research. “While still very early, and not definitive proof that green tea is an effective preventive agent, these results certainly encourage more study for patients at highest risk for oral cancer,” explained the research team. “The extract’s lack of toxicity is very crucial in prevention trials. It’s very important to remember that these are otherwise healthy individuals and we need to ensure that agents studied produce no harm,” they added. Green tea contains between 30 and 40 per cent of water-extractable polyphenols, while black tea (green tea that has been oxidized by fermentation) contains between 3 and 10 per cent. Oolong tea is semi-fermented tea and is somewhere between green and black tea. The four primary polyphenols found in fresh tealeaves are epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin gallate (ECG), and epicatechin (EC). The study followed 41 people with oral leukoplakia, a condition is a sign of oral cancer risk. The participants were assigned to receive either placebo or green tea extract at one of three doses, including 500 milligrams or 1,000 mg three times a day. The researchers collected oral tissue biopsies, which they say was “essential in that it allowed us to learn that not only did the green tea extract appear to have benefit for some patients, but we pointed [...]

2010-05-09T09:56:41-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
Read More

Clinical significance of phosphatidyl inositol synthase overexpression in oral cancer

Source: 7thspace.co Authors: Jatinder Kaur et al. We reported increased levels of Phosphatidyl Inositol synthase (PI synthase), (enzyme that catalyses phosphatidyl inositol (PI) synthesis-implicated in intracellular signaling and regulation of cell growth) in smokeless tobacco (ST) exposed oral cell cultures by differential display. This study determined the clinical significance of PI synthase overexpression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and premalignant lesions (leukoplakia), and identified the downstream signaling proteins in PI synthase pathway that are perturbed by smokeless tobacco (ST) exposure. Method: Tissue microarray (TMA) Immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, Confocal laser scan microscopy, RT-PCR were performed to define the expression of PI synthase in clinical samples and in oral cell culture systems. Results: Significant increase in PI synthase immunoreactivity was observed in premalignant lesions and OSCCs as compared to oral normal tissues (p=0.000). Further, PI synthase expression was significantly associated with de-differentiation of OSCCs, (p=0.005) and tobacco consumption (p=0.03, OR=9.0). Exposure of oral cell systems to smokeless tobacco (ST) in vitro confirmed increase in PI synthase, Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and cyclin D1 levels. Conclusion: Collectively, increased PI synthase expression was found to be an early event in oral cancer and a target for smokeless tobacco. Authors: Jatinder Kaur, Meenakshi Sawhney, Siddartha Datta, GuptaNootan, Shukla, Anurag, Srivastava, Ranju Ralhan Source: BMC Cancer 2010, 10:168

2010-04-28T13:38:38-07:00April, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
Read More
© - The Oral Cancer Foundation - Head & Neck Cancer IRS 501(c)3 Charity - 3419 Via Lido #205, Newport Beach, CA 92663 | Disclaimer / Privacy Policy
Go to Top