I have a similar opportunity...and have been waiting until I can gather my thoughts a bit more...so I am glad to see this topic, though, of course there are many posts by Brian and Jerry, etc., that we can access.

I have been asked by friends and family, "What does this mean for the rest of us? What should we be doing?" Of course, all should have regular dental visits. One would presume that your dentist is doing a thorough oral exam and is trained to recognize problems. Not so with mine! He did NOT recognize this lesion and allowed it to remain in my mouth for far too long, costing me precious treatment time and requiring a more extensive surgery than if it had been caught earlier. So one piece of advice is to CHOOSE your dentist wisely. ASK if they do a cancer screening every time they see you. ASK if they have a Velscope device for screening, or if they are equipped and trained to do a brush cytology test of suspicious areas. If they don't seem well versed in this area, find someone else. I now go to a periodontist, who I feel gives me a better exam.

Also, I tell them that if they have ANY problem area that doesn't greatly improve within two weeks, they need to get it checked out. AND I tell them to insist on having a return appointment with the dental professional after that, to be sure that it has, indeed, improved after treatment. Many of these lesions are not painful and might be forgotten by the patient.

I tell them also that a lesion that has not healed after the above process should be biopsied to ascertain what is going on. Waiting any longer is only asking for trouble.

I tell them that if they do get a cancer diagnosis, to go first to a CCC for a full diagnosis and treatment plan by a team experienced in treating these difficult and dastardly tumors, and then to make haste to the OCF website to gain as much information and support as they can.

I tell them that if they smoke, they simply MUST stop, for a million reasons, and that if they smoke AND drink heavily, they are asking for trouble.

AND I tell them to get a small, bright flashlight and a couple of mirrors...one, like a shaving mirror, that can sit on a table, and a small one that will go into their mouth..like a purse-sized make-up mirror...and give themselves a visual exam often.

These are ALL things that a person can do for him/herself, and they cost absolutely nothing above the cost of the dental appointment.

One disadvantage to oral cancer is that there is very little publicity about it, so that the public doesn't know what to look for and how to respond. One advantage to oral cancer is that the mouth is accessible to us....we can look inside, and we can feel inside, and if we know a bit about what to look for, we can save our own lives!