Brian, as a cancer survivor I fully understand where you're coming from. We want all the 'advance notice' we can get. However, I think it's optimistic to expect most dentists to be 'cancer aware', as it were. Dentists are concerned primarily with teeth and the underlying bone structure. That is the way they are trained. And, you must admit, oral and H&N cancer are not all that common.

As you point out, symptoms may include some ulceration or lesion in the mouth (or in my case, a swollen lymph node under the jaw). In most cases however, it is a damnable disease that progresses without symptoms until it is well underway.

In my own case, my GP (not even a GP, really, but the nurse practitioner) picked up on the swollen lymph node as an indication of cancer. The ENT blew it off as a 'plugged saliva gland', costing me 4 additional months before diagnosis.

Should dentists be 'cancer aware'? Sure, but a comprehensive screening won't be happening anytime soon.