Dr. Ayaba Guiste and her husband Elihu Guiste of Today’s Dental presented a program for the Livingston Lions Club recently. Referring to her husband as her “secret weapon,” she said he is known as Mr. G and that he runs the practice while she practices dentistry.
“I want to talk to you today about oral cancer. It’s an important topic that a lot of people aren’t aware of,” Dr. Guiste said. “Other cancers are going down, but oral cancer is going up and it presents in many ways.”
Mr. G said that roughly 60,000 new cases will be diagnosed this year and that roughly 13,000 of those will die. He said the growth rate of oral cancer each year is 1%.
Early detection is the difference between life and death, he said, adding that if discovered late, the result is aggressive treatment and low quality of life, but that of the if discovered earlier, lives can be saved and the individual will have better quality of life.
He said 70% of cases diagnosed are in the advanced stages and he attributed it to hidden locations and low public awareness.
Dr. Guiste agreed, “70% of cases diagnosed new are not traditional risk factors, but people with the HPV virus. It’s very important to look into HPV and men are four times as likely to get the HPV virus.
She said the warning signs include mouth sores, red and white patches, difficulty swallowing and unexplained numbness.
She said they now have a VELscope that can help detect invisible lesions and if they are found, the lesions should be biopsied.
“The screening process is pretty simple, but you want to do it early,” she said, adding, “Stage 3 and 4 are pretty aggressive.”
As for prevention beyond screening, Mr. G recommended no smoking, minimal alcohol use, HPV vaccine, and regular checkups and screenings.
The Guistes said that oral cancer affects one man in 49 and one woman in 159.
