Oral Cancer, How to Detect And Treat It?

Oral Cancer

Most of the people are familiar with high blood pressure and diabetes, but only few of them hear about oral cancer and the destructive effects.

About 640 000 cases are diagnosed each year worldwide and only about 50 percent of the patients stay alive five years later. This is evidence that the disease is very often discovered too late.

Most cases of oral cancer begin as small red or white patches in the mouth. The patient will not be aware of it. It takes two or three months for the early stage of the cancer to progress to the final stage, when it attacked the tissue and then it turns into an ulcer or swelling, sometimes spreads to the neck.


Heavy smoking and alcohol consumption are the major factors of this cancer. The habit of chewing betel, which contains nicotine, is also a major cause of the disease.

Many oral screening methods are available nowadays, one of which is Velscope, which is used for oral-cancer awareness campaign in Singapore. Velscope applied a special filter to detect fluorescence changes in oral mucosal tissue and has been reported to be a useful way to detect early carcinogenic changes.

An oral examination system itself is also designed so that patients can check their own mouth more adequately and regularly, and then report to the doctor or dentist if there is something wrong. It functions in the same way as the women do their breast self-examination for early detection of breast cancer.