Dr Omolara Uti, an Associate Professor of Community Dentistry at the
Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), on Wednesday said that
t*bacco use and consistent heavy consumption of drinking could
cause oral cancer .
Excessive drinking can cause mouth cancer - Medical expert warns
Lagos.
She said that oral cancer, which was otherwise known as mouth
cancer, was one of the diseases handled by dentists and had
mortality, compared to other mouth-related diseases.
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“Oral cancer is problematic in the mouth because many people do
not detect it in time, such that by the time the patient presents it, it is
usually too late.
“T*bacco use in any form, either by smoking, chewing, sniffing or
deeping it in the month, may cause oral cancer; also heavy
consumption of drinking has been known as a cause of oral cancer.
“When the two are now combined together, it becomes very
dangerous because one will help to potentiate the effort of the other.
“They have a synergistic relationship that can make it cause oral
cancer, and we also have the effect of sunlight, especially in
Caucasians,’’ Uti said.
The professor said that deficiencies of iron, fruits and vegetables rich
in Vitamins A, C, and E, could also lead to the causes of oral cancer.
“Other causes might be genetic disposition and also the Human
Paploma Virus, which is found in female g*nital warts, now found in
the mouth, can also cause mouth cancer,’’ she said.
According to her, oral cancer presents itself like a harmless ulcer in
the mouth that is non healing, after two weeks, a painless lump, then
the teeth becomes suddenly mobile.
“It can also present like a white plague in the mouth, which is known
as leukoplakia, so if anyone is experiencing any of these symptoms,
there is a need to see a dentist.
“These are signs that it could be cancer of the mouth and there are
different modalities for treatment, which could be either
chemotherapy or radiation and also surgery.
“The survival rate for oral cancer is 50 per cent, but when early
treatment is instituted, survival rate can improve to as high as 80
per cent,’’ she said.
