Oral cancer is generally described as cancer of head and neck. It can affect any part of the mouth like tongue, cheeks, lips, hard palate, soft palate, floor of the tongue, internal lining of the cheeks, gums, lymph nodes etc. the most common form of oral cancer is squamous cell carcinoma which affects the flat skin like lining of the mouth. 90% mouth cancer patients have been detected with this form of mouth cancer.
There are other types of oral cancers affecting different areas of the mouth like the salivary gland cancer affecting the saliva producing gland, lymphoma which is caused in lymph around the tonsils and base of tongue and melanoma affecting the skin pigmentation cells around the mouth and lips.
Causes:
The causes of skin cancer are many and can’t be restricted to anything in particular. Few major causes of oral tumor are smoking (cigarettes, pipe, hand rolled cigarettes like bidis or the one containing canabis) , alcohol, chewing of tobacco, beetlenut, gutka or pan, UV rays from sun which affects lips or pale skin and at times previous cancer which might reoccur. Other probable causes are poor dietary habits lacking essentially zinc, vitamin A, C, E, selenium .infection from HPV (human papilloma virus) which generally infects vulva, vagina and cervix.
Symptom:
The symptoms for oral cancer are very general which might sometimes turn out to be some other disease but nevertheless it is better to go to a dentist or a general physician or ENT specialist to rule out any possibility. The few visible symptoms are: white or red patch on the lips, inside of the mouth or around mouth which has been there for long , loose teeth, bleeding from mouth, soreness of lips and tongue, swelling in mouth, swelling in throat, ulcer of mouth and lips, a lump or thickening of lips mouth or tongue.
Treatment:
After mouth cancer has been established using X- Rays, MRI scan, endoscopy, CT scan and biopsy confirms the multiplicity of cells then the medical practitioner suggests treatment based on the physical stat and age of the patient, extent of infection and location of infection. Radiotherapy is commonly used method where radiation is used to destroy the cancerous cell in the affected area. At times surgery is performed to insert radioactive pellets in or around the tumor which gradually destroys the infected cells.
Surgery is another method used to remove the tumor from the infected area. It may be performed before or after radiotherapy. Chemotherapy is another treatment used for destroying cancerous cells. Anti cancerous drugs are used to shrink the tumor and later on surgery is performed to remove the infection. Time period of treatment and the strength of the medicine are dependent on the extent of infection.
Oral cancer is very common and can be avoided by taking care of ones lifestyle. Excessive intake of alcohol and cigarettes etc should be avoided. Chewing of tobacco should be strictly avoided and nutritious food should be incorporated in daily diet. After all health is wealth.
To Your Health!
James S. Pendergraft
http://www.articlesbase.com/cancer-articles/oral-cancer-causes-symptoms-and-treatments-714467.html
#1 by brandon o on May 14, 2010 - 8:14 pm
Are SCCs of BOT normally aggressive/non-aggressive?
Reason why I ask this, is because after my mom’s battle with this cancer, I have become rather interested in learning more about it. I want to learn about how it behaves, and about treatments they have for this particular type of cancer. My mother’s was stage 4, and she died after 2.5 years of it. Doctors said at diagnosis she may have had it for a couple of years, it just didnt produce symptoms untill it became advanced, which is what many cancers do.I do know that Squamous Cell Carcinomas are some of the most common types of cancers because all our organs are lined with these cells. 90% of oral/oropharyngeal cancers are these squamous cell carcinomas.. I would just like to learn more, particularly about how they tend to behave and how aggressive they can be. My mother’s caused her to die from sapping her nutrients and cutting her air supply off because the tumor was so massive, approximately baseball size.
Forgot to mention that, the cancer that claimed her life was recurrent. showed up as 2 pea size nodules on her tongue, and then she quickly got worse and ended up in the hospital for 32 days. Then she came home and we gave it one last shot to see if we could fight it, but then it became completely uncontrollable and grew to baseball size. ultimately resulting in death.
#2 by Denisedds on May 15, 2010 - 1:16 am
Awe, I’m sorry to hear that. No one should ever die that way. Overall these are not usually aggressive cancers. About 30% have lymph node involvement at diagnosis, but you do not often see distant mets at diagnosis. The tumor usually becomes noticeable or bothersome to the patient fairly early on and you don’t need radiology to see it so it’s pretty easy to diagnose. I’m very sorry your mother was not a typical case.
References :
I am a cancer registrar.