Oral cancer screening at every comprehensive exam.

About 54,000 Americans are diagnosed with oral or oropharyngeal cancer every year, and many of those cases are caught at advanced stages because nobody was looking for them earlier. Routine dental visits are the most reliable way to catch lesions, sores, or unusual tissue while they’re still small.

The screening itself takes only a couple of minutes. Dr. Weatherwax visually inspects every soft-tissue area in your mouth — tongue, cheeks, palate, floor of the mouth, throat — and gently palpates the lymph nodes around your neck and jaw. Anything suspicious gets noted and re-checked at your next visit, or referred for a biopsy if needed.

Higher-risk patients (smokers, heavy alcohol users, HPV-positive, or with a family history of head-and-neck cancer) benefit most from regular screening. But oral cancer can show up in people with none of those risk factors, which is why we do this screening for every patient, every comprehensive exam.

If you’ve noticed a sore that hasn’t healed in two weeks, a lump or thickening anywhere in your mouth or neck, persistent hoarseness, or a sense that something’s “not right” — call us. Don’t wait for your next cleaning.