Source: DentistryIQ.com

The answer is … plenty! This issue will focus on oral cancer awareness. While there are many topics we can delve into regarding this dreadful disease, we will focus on a few topics.

We will share two personal and very poignant stories. Kim Anzalotti, Bill Wislon, and Eva Grayzel impart information that will move you and make you think about your daily in-office procedures. JoAnn Gurenlian, RDH, PhD, will share insights on the human papillomavirus, or HPV, a sexually transmitted virus, and its relationship to oral cancer. And last, but certainly not least, Jamie O’Day, Treatment Facilities Coordinator, The Oral Cancer Foundation Inc., The Bruce Paltrow Oral Cancer Fund, will share her insight on oral cancer screening and the need for a thorough examination.

One personal story is shared by Eva Grazel, an international motivational speaker, author, performer, and cancer survivor. I had the pleasure of meeting Eva a number of years ago. In 1998 at age 33, Eva, a non-smoker, saw a number of dentists and physicians for over two years for an “ulcer” on her tongue that became larger and more painful, without any resolution. She was finally diagnosed with advanced oral cancer, Stage IV squamous cell carcinoma, on the lateral border of her tongue.

After the many missed opportunities for diagnosis, Eva was given a 15% chance of survival. While her late stage diagnosis is not uncommon, her recovery was unique, as she beat the odds. After diagnosis, Eva underwent a partial tongue reconstruction, a modified radical neck dissection, and a maximum dose of radiation therapy. The good news is that Eva is very much alive today, and helps to motivate professionals and patients about oral cancer examinations and risk factors. She also authored the Talk4Hope book series, written to inspire children and parents who have a family member with cancer.This Family Book Series helps families cope with their feelings about cancer, enlightens parents on how to communicate with their children, and creates special moments to cherish. Read Eva’s contribution in this eVillage FOCUS issue.

For the 12th year in a row, April was the official oral cancer awareness month in the U.S. Oral cancer awareness means raising public awareness through group collaboration to ensure that oral cancers get the national media attention necessary to highlight risk factors and oral cancer screening. Free oral cancer screenings were held throughout the country. But it does not have to be a special month to conduct oral cancer screenings in the community. There are a variety of forms for editable press releases for events. Conduct your community activity when it is convenient for you.

Rates of oral cancer are on the rise among men, and researchers say the cause is not the use of tobacco and alcohol, risk factors we have been aware of for years. The number of smokers in the U.S. has steadily declined in the past 50 years, according to the CDC, yet the rate of oral cancer has remained relatively steady, and has recently been on the increase. The culprit is the human papillomavirus, or HPV, the sexually transmitted virus responsible for the majority of cases of cervical cancer in women. Approximately 65 percent of oral cancer tumors were linked to HPV in 2007, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The profile of these new cases of oral cancer is non-smokers who are predominantly white, upper middle class, college-educated men. HPV-16, the strain of the virus that causes cervical cancer in women, has become the leading cause of oral cancer in non-smoking men. Oral HPV infection was strongly associated with oropharyngeal cancer among subjects with or without the established risk factors of tobacco and alcohol use in this case-controlled study. An even greater than-additive risk has been reported, although inconsistently, for patients exposed to both HPV and tobacco and those exposed to both HPV and alcohol.

A University of North Carolina (UNC) study found the incidence of oral tongue cancer increasing in young, white females, even though overall, incidence of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) was decreasing for all ages. The increasing incidence was most dramatic for white females ages 18 to 44. They had a percentage change of 111 percent.

Interestingly, the incidence decreased for African American and other racial groups. They analyzed incidence and survival data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute from 1975 to 2007 for OCSCC and oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC).

 

There is an enormous effort to vaccinate girls and women between the ages of 11 and 26 against HPV, and according to experts, should have included boys and men from the beginning. Gardasil (Merck), one of the two major vaccines used to prevent HPV infection, wasn’t approved for use in males in the United States until 2009, three years after it was approved for women. Men have a greater chance of contracting the HPV virus from oral sex than women do from the same behavior, though researchers are not clear on the reason for this phenomenon. For CDC information on HPV vaccines, visit their website.

 

The other vaccine is Cervarix (GlaxoSmithKline). According to the CDC, both vaccines are very safe, and are made with very small parts of the human papillomavirus (HPV) that cannot cause infection. As with any pharmaceuticals, there can be side effects. For a recently updated Q & A page on these vaccines, visit the CDC website.

In girls and young women ages 9 to 26, Gardasil® helps protect against two types of HPV that cause about 75% of cervical cancer cases, and two more types that cause 90% of genital warts cases. In boys and young men ages 9 to 26, Gardasil helps protect against 90% of genital warts cases. Gardasil also helps protect girls and young women ages 9 to 26 against 70% of vaginal cancer cases and up to 50% of vulvar cancer cases.

While the vaccines available are not approved for prevention of oral cancer, the impact the vaccines may have on oral cancer should be considered. The Oral Cancer Foundation believes that elimination of a causative agent (HPV16), by preventing infection from it by use of a vaccine, will subsequently prevent any disease that agent may have produced in the protected individual. This is simple scientific extrapolation, and a view shared by many in the science community. Makes sense to me!

Oral cancer has a low survival rate because it is generally not discovered until it has spread to other areas, according to the CDC. Only half of people who’ve been diagnosed with oral cancer will live longer than five years. Prevention is the name of the game. Do not use tobacco products, use alcohol in moderation, limit the number of sexual partners and use protection, and screen (or be screened) annually for oral cancer. Anyone old enough to have engaged in sexual behaviors which are capable of transferring the HPV needs to be screened annually for oral cancer. There are many cancer screening protocols available. Education, prevention, screening and early intervention can save lives.