Dental health and oral cancer

When you talk about practicing good oral hygiene, that discussion includes two visits to the dentist each year. While usually those visits are maintenance-oriented, it can help with regard to early detection of oral cancer--something that would go undetected for longer if you did not see the dentist every six months.

Here are some staggering statistics related to oral cancer:

• 36,000 new cases of oral cancer are diagnosed each year
• Only half the people diagnosed with oral cancer are alive in five years
• One person dies every hour from oral cancer

The good news for those of you who do go to the dentist twice a year is that when discovered in its earliest stages, the oral cancer survival rate leaps to 80 to 90 percent. But prevention/early detection starts with regular visits to the dentists, at least twice a year.