subject: Why Avoiding The Dentist Could Kill You [print this page] It is estimated that about half of all American adults are afraid of the dentist. Many Americans tend to put off dental care until it is an absolute emergency. This can be bad for so many reasons and really should be decreasing due to the advancements in the dental field. Regular checkups should be a routine of all adults, not only to keep costs of future dental work down, but also cut down on other unforeseen problems.
One of the problems that people rarely consider is that avoiding the dentist leads to more cases of unfound oral cancer. Oral cancer has a very high survival rate if found before stage 3 or beyond. New cases of oral cancers are estimated at over 35,000 annually by the American Cancer Society. Of these new cases, it is estimated that over 6,000 of these people will die from these cancers. Most notably, the instances of oral cancer in women have dramatically increased since the 1950s, when women smoking became more prevalent.
While oral cancer occurs mostly in users of tobacco products, it is certainly not limited to this group. In fact, according to the American Dental Association, about 25% of the oral cancer patients have no known risk factors. Major risk factors include activities such as use of alcohol and different forms of tobacco.
Oral cancers death rates (above 50% in total) are actually higher than most of the more commonly known cancers including Hodgkins lymphoma, cervical cancer, thyroid cancer, and malignant skin cancer. This is disturbing given that this is a very treatable form of cancer. The most common reason for a high death rate of a given cancer is when the cancer is detected. Cancer that is found earlier, of any type, is much more likely to be treatable.
Many oral cancers have symptoms that are hard to identify with the untrained eye without an examination. Most dentists will usually check for these types of cancers while performing routine checkups. Dentists are able to identify a wide array of cancers well before they become cancerous or at the early stages. This early identification will greatly increase the ability for doctors to effectively remove and treat any cancerous or per-cancerous cells that may be appearing. Dentists carefully examine the tongue and interior of the mouth for sores and spots that may not be detected by the patient.
While cancer can be a very real and very scary fear for many people in todays society, there are plenty of prevention methods for certain types of cancer. Oral cancer is one of the most preventable and can be greatly reduced by maintaining a regular dental checkup schedule of twice a year. Getting over your fear and trusting your oral care provider could go a long way in not only reducing more obvious oral issues like cavities and gingivitis, but also but also may save your life!
