When it comes to reducing our risk of dying from cancer, we all know what to do. Stop smoking to reduce our risk of getting lung cancer. Eat more fiber and get colon exams. Get screening mammograms and prostate exams for breast and prostate cancer. Stay out of the sun to avoid skin cancer.
Have you ever thought about your risk of getting mouth and throat cancer, though? These cancers are not as common as other cancers but the effects on your health can be just as devastating. We’re talking about cancer of the tongue, cheek, palate, tonsils and voice box. Certainly losing the function of one of these parts of your body would have dramatic effects on your overall health.
What could lead to these types of cancer?
As you might expect, smoking cigarettes or cigars and drinking alcohol excessively are the main culprits. There are other causes, though, that are worth discussing. Chewing tobacco has resulted in mouth cancer in some high profile athletes. Smoking marijuana is a recognized cause.
There are a few causes that you might not expect. Gastric reflux has been recognized as a cause of throat and voice box cancer. The human papilloma virus (HPV) causes many cancers of the throat, particularly in 40-to 50-year-old men. Many older people, particularly women, have whitish spots in their mouth that they’ve had for years. About 5-10% of patients with these white patches will develop mouth cancer. Vitamin A deficiency, which occurs in people who avoid fruits and vegetables, results in a higher risk of developing a mouth cancer. Vitamin D deficiency has recently been described as a cause of cancer. Chronic mouth irritation like aggressive usage of mouthwash has even been reported as a cause.
We don’t know the ultimate cause of some forms of mouth cancer but we know that they start with white patches in the mouth. Women in their 30s and 40s are experiencing an increasing incidence of tongue cancer. The cause of this is unknown. Early detection usually results in curative treatment though.
So what can you do to avoid cancer in your mouth and throat?
Don’t smoke or drink excessively. Don’t chew tobacco. Eat fruits and vegetables. Treat reflux symptoms. See a dentist regularly, not just for dental care, but also for an exam of the mouth lining. Any difficulty with swallowing or speaking should prompt you to go to your physician. You should look in your own mouth regularly. Look for whitish areas as well as reddish areas (which are actually more likely to represent early cancer). If you see one of these areas, get an evaluation by a doctor or dentist familiar with this problem.
So what happens if you happen to get one of these cancers?
If caught early, the treatment results are excellent. Cures can be obtained almost 95% of the time. However, if the cancer is bigger, more treatment is necessary and the cure rate is lower. In that case you would want to see a surgeon with focused expertise in this problem. This is usually an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) surgeon with head and neck cancer treatment training and experience. You will probably also need to see a medical oncologist and a radiation oncologist because we often treat larger tumors with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. There are new advances being made on nearly a monthly basis in an effort to treat these more aggressive cancers. Surgeries are less disfiguring. Chemotherapy is more tolerable. Radiation is more focused thereby reducing damage to adjacent tissue. Treatments are designed to preserve as much function and appearance as possible. It is far better, though, to have the cancer detected very early.
If you’d like to learn more about this type of cancer there are multiple sites on the Internet that are reliable. An ideal site is www.entnet.org that is compiled by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.