What Is Mouth Cancer?
3. How Is Mouth Cancer Diagnosed?
A physical exam is often the first step in diagnosing mouth cancer. Most dentists perform an oral cancer exam during every dental appointment, looking for any strange sores or bumps in the mouth. Maintaining these appointments every six months is an important way to discover any potential signs of cancer early on.
If any tissues look suspicious, samples are taken of the area and sent to a lab for biopsy. If the test comes back positive for cancer, the next step to evaluate the extent by performing imaging tests and doing an endoscopy to check if the disease has spread to other parts of the body.
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