• 8/26/2005
  • Detroit, MI
  • Sharon Terlep
  • Detroit News (www.detnews.com)

A test done with a device that’s essentially a toothbrush can help fight oral cancer — one of the stealthiest, deadliest and costliest cancers plaguing minorities in Metro Detroit.

The simple test, called a brush biopsy, can detect oral cancer long before it takes hold, saving patients’ lives and sparing them costly medical bills. Oral health care experts hope the test will become as prevalent as mammograms, which have become a key to early detection of breast cancer.

Many of those most at risk for oral cancer don’t know an exam exists, however. Delta Dental Plans of Michigan and the Detroit Oral Cancer Prevention Project have teamed up on a regional campaign to encourage people, especially African-American men, who are at the highest risk for the disease, to get oral cancer tests.

“It’s a stealth problem that no one talks about,” said Amid Ismail, director of the Detroit Oral Cancer Prevention Project and University of Michigan professor of dentistry. “It is unacceptable that the problem of oral cancer is not publicly known in Detroit.”

Oral cancer kills about 30,000 Americans a year and is especially prevalent in Detroit. The city each year ranks among the top five metropolitan areas for oral cancer rates. Smoking, drinking alcohol and exposure to ultraviolet rays are all risk factors for oral cancer.

Donald Jones worried for weeks because his tongue was changing color. The 66-year-old Detroiter decided to get a test, which was negative, after seeing a billboard about oral cancer.

“I had no idea even that oral cancer existed,” Jones said.

During the test, a dentist uses a toothbrush-like device to scrape tissue from inside a patient’s mouth that is then tested for cancer. Delta Dental Plans of Michigan is spending $50,000 to cover brush biopsies and other exams and treatments for uninsured Wayne County residents.

Patients will receive a screening from the Detroit Dental Assessment Center. Depending on the results, patients may then be referred to volunteer dentists.

Okemos-based Delta Dental, which insures 5.1 million people in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, is trying to promote tests among dentists, as well. The insurer is among few that reimburses patients for brush biopsies.

If oral cancer is caught early, the cure is simple removal of diseased tissue. In later stages, treatment consists of disfiguring surgeries that can cost more than $200,000. The survival rate drops to 57 percent from 81 percent when the disease is not detected early.