Seeing the dentist is not all about your teeth.
It is also a good opportunity to check the general health of your mouth and throat. About 54,000 Americans will be diagnosed with a form of oral cancer this year - and not only people with the usual risk factors.
"A third or even more of these cancers can arise in people who have no history of smoking or heavy alcohol use," Dr. Patrick Ha, Chief of Head and Neck Oncologic Surgery at UCSF told KCBS Radio's "As Prescribed."
He said an increasing number of oral cancers is being linked to the sexually transmitted disease, HPV.
"This is the same human papilloma virus that causes cervical cancer in women," Dr. Ha explained. "These tongue-based and tonsil cancers have surpassed cervical cancers."
But there is good news, explained Dr. Alessandro Villa, Associate Professor and Chief of Oral Medicine at UCSF. "Luckily we have a cancer prevention tool available, which is the vaccine," he said.
Last June, the FDA approved the vaccine for the prevention of oral cancers.
"The uptake is relatively low compared to other vaccines," said Dr. Villa. "So, there is a lot of work we still need to do to improve vaccination rates."
"Oftentimes, our patients are too late because they’ve already developed these cancers," Dr. Ha added. "But, it is a wakeup call to them. One of the things I always talk about is, are your kids vaccinated?"
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