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Cases of oral cancer have increased recently. Precious lives can be saved with early detection of oral cancer through different oral cancer screening procedures. This post briefly discusses different oral cancer screening procedures.
Procedures Used For Screening of Oral Cancers.
Four oral cancer screenings are used for early detection of cancer. When you notice presence of lesions in the mouth of the patient, below procedures can be used for detecting abnormal tissues which might become cancerous.
Brush Biopsy
In these screening procedures, the removal of cells is done using a brush. The brush is precisely designed for collecting cells from all the layers of a lesion. All the collected cells are viewed under a microscope to find out if they are cancerous.
Exfoliative Cytology
This screening procedure is used for the collection of cells from the oral cavity or the lip. For gently scraping cells from the lips, a piece of small wooden stick, cotton or brush is used in this screening procedure. To determine if they are abnormal, the cells are viewed under a microscope.
Fluorescence Staining
In this screening procedure, collected cells are viewed using a special light. Normal tissues look different from abnormal tissues when viewed under the light with a fluorescent mouth rinse.
Toluidine Blue Stain
In these oral cancer screenings, a mouth of the patient is coated with a blue dye. Areas of the stain darker than others are more likely to be abnormal or cancerous cells.
Possible Risks Associated With Oral Cancer Screening
Prior having any screening examination for detection of oral cancer, it is recommended that the patient must discuss the test with his/her doctor as not all the screening tests for oral cancer are helpful and some of them may involve inherent risks.
False-Negative Test Outcomes
This may appear to be normal even though oral cavity is present. So, false negative results may result in delayed medical care as it shows there is no cancer or abnormal cell when it is.
Misdiagnosis Can Occur
For the purpose of diagnosing oral cancer, a biopsy procedure is recommended by cancer specialists. For checking the signs of cancer, tissues are removed from the oral cavity and viewed under an advanced microscope.
False-Positive Test Results
Results appear to be abnormal even though the patient is not cancer positive. It can lead to anxiety and is normally accompanied by more screening/testing procedures such as biopsy.
Dental hygiene can affect that too. Dentists can do brush tests to see abnormal growth on your mouth. Suspect dental implants can cause you heaps of trouble so choose a credible dental clinic that offers tooth implants.
Good thing, dentistry has come a long way and find procedures to diagnose oral cancers. With the early diagnosis, there’s a big chance to treat the cancer well.