Oral Cancer Screening

The Oral Cancer Foundation reports that around 43,500 individuals in the US are diagnosed with oral/throat cancer each year, resulting in one death per hour. Early detection can lead to a 90% survival rate with treatment, but most cases are not discovered until later stages, which only have a 57% survival rate after 5 years. The incidence of oral cancer has increased by 11% in recent years. Risk factors include tobacco and alcohol use, exposure to HPV-16, and unknown causes.

There are two clinical procedures for screening oral cancer. The Velscope screening uses fluorescence technology to highlight abnormal tissues, while the OralDNA test detects cancer cells in saliva samples, focusing on identifying the HPV virus before it can lead to cancer.