Mouth Cancer – Symptoms & Causes

Mouth cancer can cause several complications, hampering regular activities like speaking, chewing and swallowing. This causes hardly curable bruises on the mouth, lips and tongues – the organs elemental for those activities.

This article will help you be aware of everything that one should know about this disease. Let's delve into this cancer's symptoms, causes, and treatment procedures.

Mouth cancer causes reddish patches anywhere on the organs as mentioned below –

• Oral cavity (Inner cheeks)
• Teeth gums
• Lips
• Floor of mouth
• Upper and lower part of the tongue

In most cases, the responsible agent for this oral illness is Squamous Cell Carcinoma which appears in the inner lining of one’s mouth.

Mouth cancer spreads quickly inside the mouth. Therefore, a quicker diagnosis of oral cancer at early stages can help with quicker recovery. Thus, it can save much of the pain and misery of patients.

Understanding the signs of mouth cancer is necessary because it helps individuals know how badly they need a doctor’s consultation. Therefore, go through to know about it –

• Ulcers or bruises in the mouth, lip, and tongue that do not heal for weeks are one of the early signs of mouth cancer.
• Red or white patches also grow on the inner lining of one’s mouth and tongue.
• Because of gum cancer, teeth become loose, or after removing the tooth, the socket does not cure easily.
• Lumps that grow inside the mouth can also be symptoms of oral cancer.
• A patient can also feel pain in the ear and dysphagia or difficulty in swallowing foods.
• Bleeding from the linings of one’s mouth and infections inside the oral cavity are also significant early-stage symptoms of mouth cancer.

These symptoms of oral cancer will help individuals self-assess this disease easily. However, they should also get doctors’ consultation immediately to confirm whether they have this cancer or not.

Individuals need to know all the causes of oral cancer. This way, they can be aware of the agents responsible for this disease and, consequently, reduce their exposure. So, follow on to know.

• In most cases (almost 90%), the main agent causing this disease is squamous cell carcinoma.
• Addiction to smoking, tobacco and alcohol can cause mouth cancer as well.
• Sexually transmitted HPV or Human Papillomavirus makes people vulnerable to this cancer.

However, some other reasons that increase the risk of this disease are excessive exposure to UV rays and weak body immunity.

Here is a list of people more vulnerable to this disease –

• Adults above the age of 55 years are more prone to develop the symptoms of mouth cancer. In fact, almost two out of three patients are from this age group.
• The propensity to get this disease is higher in men than women.

According to the seriousness of this illness, doctors recommend the treatment procedures mentioned below.

1. Surgery

In this treatment procedure, surgeons remove the facial tissues affected by cancer cells to prevent further spread.

2. Radiotherapy

This is one of the most popular and effective medical treatments for oral cancer. Doctors use radioactive chemicals or X-rays to kill or reduce cancerous cells.

3. Chemotherapy

Doctors try to diminish the mutated DNA causing this disease with effective medicines under chemotherapy. This way, cancerous cells lose their ability to reproduce inside the mouth.

4. Photodynamic Therapy

Surgeons try to stop the growth of this disease during the starting stage of mouth cancer with photodynamic therapy (PDT).

However, it cures this illness temporarily because its effectiveness is not like other conventional therapies.

5. Immunotherapy

In immunotherapy, medical practitioners try to improve a patient's immune response to fight against cancer. For this, they prescribe some drugs like Pembrolizumab, Cetuximab and Nivolumab.

Now that you know the complications, causes and treatment procedures of oral cancer, you should also be aware of its preventive measures. 

The main objective of prevention is to curb those cancer-causing agents through behavioural changes, such as –

• Quitting smoking
• Stopping alcohol consumption
• Avoiding sun exposure
• Visiting dentists regularly
• Maintaining a healthy diet
• Avoiding betel nuts