Mouth cancer can arise anywhere in the mouth, including the lips, the tongue, the gums, and even the insides of the cheeks. Also called oral cancer, it can trigger various helpful signs for its detection and treatment. In the first stages of mouth cancer, several symptoms can be noticed, such as continuous mouth ulcers, patches of red or white in the mouth that last three weeks or more, lumps in the lip or mouth cavities, and significant loss of body weight.
In other parts of this blog, “Understanding Mouth Cancer Symptoms: A Comprehensive Guide,” mouth cancer is said to cause painful mouth sores, making it hard to swallow or speak, and neck pain, among other mouth-related pains. One should see a doctor or a dentist if the pointed symptoms appear.
Common Symptoms of Mouth Cancer
Mouth cancer can display signs that supposedly appear less severe than they are. In case you recognize developments for more than two weeks in the following symptoms, this is a cause for concern, and a doctor should be sought:
- Sores or Ulcers: If you have an ulcer in your mouth, particularly on the lip or inner objectives, around two weeks would serve as the threshold time frame within which it would be alright. A database suggests a direct relationship to mouth cancer. It may look like a canker sore but persist for even longer.
- Lumps and Thickening: If you notice any thickness or lump in your lip, gums, or even inside your mouth, there is a cause for concern. If a problem develops, swelling could also occur in the jaw or neck area.
- White or Red Patches: Oral lesions that are white or red on the surface of the gums, tongue, or oral cavity should be viewed with utmost seriousness. These patches might signal cytological abnormalities that might undergo malignant aberration.
- Pain and Discomfort: Persistent pain within the mouth cavity that does not remit is yet another indication. Chewing and even swallowing food may be difficult as the condition advances.
- Voice Changes: Voice changes can also result from any of the factors that affect the mechanisms of human speech production. Therefore, if a patient’s voice is gravelly or hoarse, there’s reason to suspect a problem.
- Loose Teeth: Loose teeth, for example, are interpretive signals of action direction indicators. If teeth feel loose or dentures are ill-fitting, consult a dentist.
- Weight Loss: Unintended weight loss may also pose problems. It can occur when an individual is unable to swallow anything because of an underlying pain.
- Numbness: Last but not least, if an individual feels numbness in the mouth, which could be localized to the tongue or the lip, an adult, preferably a parent, has to be informed immediately. These are significant symptoms that should be noticed.
Risk Factors
Mouth cancer is undeniably caused by several critical factors, including:
- Tobacco Use: Tobacco use, be it through smoking or chewing, is a significant risk factor because toxic compounds in tobacco can disrupt the typical structure of the cells in the mouth & those cells may develop into cancer.
- Alcohol Consumption: A person’s risk may be heightened by excessive alcohol consumption and tobacco usage.
- Human Papillomavirus (HPV): Infectious agents associated with certain mouth cancers. HPV has several strains with varying oncogenic potential, and one of those strains seems to be rather strongly associated with invasive cancer at the retromolar trigone and oropharynx.
- Poor Oral Hygiene: The probable outcomes of poor dental care may be hypertrophy of gum or deficiency of a healthy tissue oral cavity, clinical aspects of which may predispose to the development of neoplastic disease.
Diagnosis and Screening
A mouth cancer diagnosis is best made as early as possible. In this connection, it becomes necessary that the patient often goes to the dentist to check whether some form of mouth cancer can be averted through early detection. The patient recognizes the various defects present in the oral cavity, which may not be the focus of attention at routine visits. In case of such suspicions, several diagnostic tests are often performed.
Some of the tests performed for mouth cancer are biopsies, imaging tests, and x-rays, while CT and MRIs; these tests can lead to mouth cancer diagnosis. During a biopsy, a small sample of tissue surrounding the abnormal area is removed and sent for cancer culture tests. Imaging tests are essential in assessing further stages of the disease to determine how much it has spread to other body organs.
The most essential and urgent measures consist of a mouth cancer diagnosis at the quickest stage of treatment and identifying the required therapeutic approach at the earliest stage possible.
Conclusion
Understanding mouth cancer symptoms is crucial since it facilitates the diagnosis of any problem at the earliest possible stage, which may be treated easily. If a mouth sore appears and goes away on its own within a certain timeframe, a dentist should be visited without further delay. Regular dental care appointments are necessary for the health of the gums and teeth.
The visits also assist the dentist in identifying pre-cancerous and other changes in the mouth that lead to many advanced complications. If the population knows the signs and symptoms and practices proper oral hygiene, the chances of mouth cancer and other oral cancers will decrease significantly.
Sources:
https://cancer.org.au/cancer-information/types-of-cancer/mouth-cancer
https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/cancer/cancer-types-in-adults/mouth-cancer/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mouth-cancer/symptoms-causes/syc-20350997
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/11184-oral-cancer
https://www.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/oral-cancer-symptoms-by-stage.h00-159699123.html