Oral cancer has become one of the major dental diseases which can claim your life and it should be taken very seriously. The best way of dealing with this is finding dental exams and checkups which will help the population and Charlotte NC dentist find an easy way of establishing if one is suffering or not.
These dental exams and checkups on cancer in its early stages help in finding a successful cure for it. Below five years is often a good time to find a way to treat it.
There is a commonly used test which passes the requirements recommended by World Health Organization. It calls for two 2” by 2” dental mouth mirrors and gloves. It will take Charlotte NC dentist less than 5 minutes.
It involves extraoral and intraoral examining and the extraoral plus perioral tissues get examined first, with the patient seated.
The Perioral and Intraoral Tissues Exams
The first parts start with the lips. The key things for dental care in Charlotte NC to observe are texture, color and abnormalities on any surfaces of the lower and upper vermilion borders.
With a partially open mouth, visually inspect sulcus and the labial mucosa and the mandibular vestibule and frenum. Study the texture, swellings, color or other irregularities of the gingiva and vestibular mucosa.
Buccal mucosa should be retracted. Then examine the right and then the left buccal mucosa from the labial commissure heading back to the frontal tonsillar pillar. Observe any variations in pigmentation, mobility, texture, and other irregularities of the mucosa.
Then head to the gingiva and alveolar ridges, inspecting their labia and buccal aspects. Do this from the right to the left maxilliary.
As the tongue is at rest and the mouth partially open, dental care in Charlotte NC inspects dorsum of the tongue if it has swellings, coating, ulcerations or size, texture and color variations. Mobility of the tongue is not to be forgotten either.
Observe the left and right lateral margins of this tongue using the mirrors. Palpate the tongue to identify growths. As the tongue is elevated, check for any changes in complexion, swellings, or texture of the floor of the mouth.
With the head of the patient being tilted back, study the hard and soft palates of the mouth using a mirror. Study the oropharyngeal and soft palate tissues carefully. Palpate all abnormal facial or mucosal tissues bimanually.
I hope you will find these exams helpful.
