Most dentists do a mouth cancer screening during a regular dental checkup. The goal is to detect oral cancer in the early stages to treat it when there’s a greater chance of being cured.
Not all lumps in the mouth are cancerous. A simple mouth cancer screening cannot tell if a lump is cancerous or not. Additional tests may be called for to confirm the cancer diagnosis.
The entire screening process takes barely any time. First, our dentist will physically examine all the areas in the mouth, including the roof and floor, cheeks area, gums, back of the throat and tonsils, tongue etc. They will look for swellings, lumps or suspicious growths in these areas. Sometimes, unusual white or red patches on the soft tissues may also indicate oral cancer.