How Long Does Oral Cancer Take To Spread? What Can We Do to Reduce It

Oral cancer, like other cancers, can be unpredictable. As a result, predicting how quickly it spreads is difficult because so many individual factors influence each cancer’s metastasis. However, mouth cancer is considered to spread moderately, not falling into the slowest or fastest-spreading categories.

What Are the Stages of Oral Cancer?

The cancer stage indicates how big and far it has spread. Cancer progresses through four stages.

Stage 1

This is the first stage. Oral cancer has not yet spread to your lymph nodes and is only two centimeters in diameter.

Stage 2

The second stage of oral cancer is a tumor that hasn’t spread. Its size, however, is between two and four centimeters.

Stage 3

Cancer is classified as Stage 3 under two conditions. First, if It has spread to one lymph node but has not spread further, or it has not spread to your lymph nodes, the primary tumor is larger than four centimeters

Stage 4

The fourth stage is the most advanced. It happens when cancer has spread or metastasized to other body parts. Metastasis can be locoregional, which means it spreads to a close location, such as the lymph nodes of your neck, or it can spread to other organs, such as the lungs. Locoregional metastasis usually occurs before distant metastasis, but this is not always the case.

What Signs and Symptoms of Oral Cancer Are Checked at a Dentistry Near You?

Many types begin as sores in the mouth, which people do not recognize as cancer at first because they resemble other harmless sores. Furthermore, the lesions may not cause pain at first. The lesions, however, differ from other sores because they do not heal. Instead, the tumor may cause a burning sensation in the mouth as it grows. If observed, the cancerous sores may be deep red, pale enough to appear white, or mottled with several different colors.

Cancerous tumors can develop in any part of the mouth: within the cheeks, on the gums, under the tongue, or on the lip, inside or outside.

Oral cancer patients may experience bad breath, weight loss, loose teeth, and tongue issues. In addition, cancerous tumors can cause pain, difficulty swallowing, and speech or chewing difficulties, such as difficulty opening the mouth. Due to the difficulties that cancer can cause with eating, patients may also experience weight loss as a secondary symptom.

How to Reduce the Spread of Oral Cancer

There is no known method to stop oral cancer. But if you do the following, you can lessen your chance of oral cancer:

1. Stop smoking or avoid starting. If you smoke, you should stop. If you haven’t already, don’t start. Tobacco use exposes the cells in the mouth to potentially harmful substances that can lead to cancer.

   If you must drink alcohol, do so in moderation. Chronic alcohol consumption may irritate your mouth’s cells, increasing the risk of developing mouth cancer. If you decide to drink alcohol, do so in moderation. That means that women of all ages and men over the age of 65 can have up to one drink per day, while men 65 and younger can only have two drinks per day.

2. Don’t overexpose your lips to the sun. This helps to avoid burning the skin on your lips. Seek shade whenever possible. Put on a wide-brim hat so that your mouth and the rest of your face are adequately covered. Apply a lip sunscreen cream as part of your daily sun protection routine.
3. Make regular visits to the dentist. Request that your dentist check your entire mouth as part of a routine dental examination for any abnormalities that could indicate mouth cancer or precancerous changes.Where to get oral cancer treatment in Peoria, AZ

If you have the mentioned above symptoms and want to undergo an oral cancer screening in Peoria, AZ, visit Westbrook Village Dental. Our staff will conduct a thorough examination to ensure that the symptoms are of mouth cancer. Then, the dentist will guide you on the necessary guidelines to follow and also recommend the best preventive ways to reduce oral cancer or even prevent it.