We’re concerned with your overall oral health—not just the health of the teeth and gums, but all the soft tissues in your oral cavity and oropharynx. That’s why we make intra- and extra-oral head and neck exams a routine part of your regular hygiene visit. We screen for dysplasia, oral cancer and a host of other oral diseases. The following statistics from the National Cancer Institute’s SEER Database, 1999-2006, show you why we take the time:
- Found early, while still localized (confined to the primary site), oral cancer’s five-year survival rate is about 83%.
- Found while regional (progressed to regional lymph nodes) the five-year survival rate is about 55%.
- Found late, oral cancer’s five-year survival rate is approximately 32%.