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Table of Contents Overview of Screening
Oral Cancer Screening
Get More Information From NCI
Changes to This Summary (07/23/2007)
Questions or Comments About This Summary
About PDQ
Overview of Screening
What is screening?
Screening for cancer is examination (or testing) of people for early stages in
the development of cancer even though they have no symptoms. Scientists have
studied patterns of cancer in the population to learn which people are more
likely to get certain types of cancer. They have also studied what things
around us and what things we do in our lives may cause cancer. This
information sometimes helps doctors recommend who should be screened for
certain types of cancer, what types of screening tests people should have, and
how often these tests should be done. Not all screening tests are helpful, and
most have risks such as bleeding or infection due to a biopsy for an abnormal screening test. For this reason, scientists at the National Cancer Institute are studying many screening tests to find out how useful they are and to
determine the relative benefits and harms.
If your doctor suggests certain cancer screening tests as part of your health
care plan, this does not mean he or she thinks you have cancer. Screening
tests are done when you have no symptoms. Since decisions about screening can
be difficult, you may want to discuss them with your doctor and ask questions
about the potential benefits and risks of screening tests and whether they have
been proven to decrease the risk of dying from cancer.
If your doctor suspects that you may have cancer, he or she will order certain
tests to see whether you do. These are called diagnostic tests. Some tests
are used for diagnostic purposes, but are not suitable for screening people who
have no symptoms.
Purposes of this summary
The purposes of this summary on oral cancer screening are to:
- Give information on oral cancer and what makes it more likely to occur (risk
factors).
- Describe oral cancer screening methods and what is known about their
effectiveness.
You can talk to your doctor or health care professional about cancer screening
and whether it would be likely to help you.
 Back to Top Oral Cancer Screening
Oral cancer may develop in any of the following areas:
- Lips.
- Oral cavity, which includes:
- The front two thirds of the tongue.
- The gingiva (gums).
- The buccal mucosa (the lining of the inside of the cheeks).
- The floor (bottom) of the mouth under the tongue.
- The hard palate (the roof of the mouth).
- The retromolar trigone (the small area behind the wisdom teeth).
- Oropharynx, which includes:
- The middle part of the pharynx (throat) behind the mouth.
- The back one-third of the tongue.
- The soft palate.
- The side and back walls of the throat.
- The tonsils.
Salivary glands are located throughout the oral cavity and oropharynx.
This summary will describe the risk factors and screening tests associated with oral cancer.
Risk of oral cancer
The number of new cases of oral cancer, as well as the number of deaths from
oral cancer, has been decreasing.
Anything that increases a person’s chance of developing a disease is called a
risk factor. Some of these risk factors for oral cancer are as follows:
Sex: Men have a slightly higher risk of developing oral cancer than women.
Race: The risk of developing oral cancer is higher in blacks than in whites.
Age: The risk of developing oral cancer increases after age 45 years.
Tobacco and Alcohol Use: The use of tobacco (including smokeless tobacco) and
alcohol increases the risk of developing oral cancer.
HPV Infection: Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) increases the risk of developing cancer of the oropharynx.
Screening tests for oral cancer
Screening for oral cancer may be done during a physical examination by the dentist or doctor. High-risk areas of the mouth that can be checked for early
detection are the floor of the mouth, the front and sides of the tongue, and
the soft palate. The exam will include looking for lesions on the mucous membranes, including leukoplakia (white patches) and erythroplakia (red patches). Oral cancer sometimes develops in areas with these lesions. It is not known, however, if screening decreases the risk of
dying from oral cancer.
Early- stage oral cancer can be cured, but most oral cancers have spread by the time they are found.
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Call 1-800-4-CANCER
For more information, U.S. residents may call the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Cancer Information Service toll-free at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Deaf and hard-of-hearing callers with TTY equipment may call 1-800-332-8615. The call is free and a trained Cancer Information Specialist is available to answer your questions.
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- Bethesda, MD 20892-8322
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The NCI has booklets and other materials for patients, health professionals, and the public. These publications discuss types of cancer, methods of cancer treatment, coping with cancer, and clinical trials. Some publications provide information on tests for cancer, cancer causes and prevention, cancer statistics, and NCI research activities. NCI materials on these and other topics may be ordered online or printed directly from the NCI Publications Locator. These materials can also be ordered by telephone from the Cancer Information Service toll-free at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237), TTY at 1-800-332-8615.
Back to Top Changes to This Summary (07/23/2007)
The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as
new information becomes available. This section describes the latest
changes made to this summary as of the date above.
Changes were made to this summary to match those made to the health professional version.
Back to Top Questions or Comments About This Summary
If you have questions or comments about this summary, please send them to Cancer.gov through the Web site’s Contact Form. We can respond only to email messages written in English.
Back to Top About PDQ
PDQ is a comprehensive cancer database available on NCI's Web site.
PDQ is the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) comprehensive cancer information database. Most of the information contained in PDQ is available online at NCI's Web site. PDQ is provided as a service of the NCI. The NCI is part of the National Institutes of Health, the federal government's focal point for biomedical research.
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The PDQ database contains summaries of the latest published information on cancer prevention, detection, genetics, treatment, supportive care, and complementary and alternative medicine. Most summaries are available in two versions. The health professional versions provide detailed information written in technical language. The patient versions are written in easy-to-understand, nontechnical language. Both versions provide current and accurate cancer information.
The PDQ cancer information summaries are developed by cancer experts and reviewed regularly.
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PDQ also contains information on clinical trials.
A clinical trial is a study to answer a scientific question, such as whether a method of finding cancer earlier can help people to live longer. Trials are based on past studies and what has been learned in the laboratory. Each trial answers certain scientific questions in order to find new and better ways to help cancer patients and those who are at risk for cancer. During screening clinical trials, information is collected about the effects of a new screening method and how well it works. If a clinical trial shows that a new method is better than one currently being used, the new method may become "standard." People who are at high risk for a certain type of cancer may want to think about taking part in a clinical trial.
Listings of clinical trials are included in PDQ and are available online at NCI's Web site. Descriptions of the trials are available in health professional and patient versions. Many cancer doctors who take part in clinical trials are also listed in PDQ. For more information, call the Cancer Information Service 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237); TTY at 1-800-332-8615.
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