Visit your dentist if you have any of these 10 symptoms

Even those with good oral hygiene can experience problems 
We all know it’s important to take good care of our oral health by brushing, flossing and seeing a dentistregularly. Even with proper oral health habits at home, we can encounter problems. According the American Dental Association’s website mouthhealthy.org, here are the top 10 dental symptoms: 

1. Toothache 

If your mouth or jaw hurt, it could be from a toothache. Toothaches usually indicate a cavity, but they also can signal gum disease. In some cases, a toothache is a sign of an abscess or impacted tooth. A toothache should be evaluated by a dentist to determine the cause of the problem and prevent the tooth from dying. 

2. Sensitive teeth 

If your teeth hurt when you drink hot or cold beverages, it can be the result of tooth decay, fractured teeth, worn fillings, gum disease, worn tooth enamel or an exposed tooth root because of gum recession. Treatment will depend upon what is causing the sensitivity. If you’re concerned about the sensitive teeth, see your dentist for diagnosis and treatment options. 

3. Bleeding or sore gums 

Bleeding or sore gums can be a sign of gingivitis, an early and reversible stage of gum disease, or simply the result of brushing too hard or starting a new flossing routine. If your gums bleed regularly or enough to worry you, make an appointment with your dentist. It could be a sign that something else is wrong. 

4. Mouth sores 

Types of mouth sores include canker sores, cold sores and other conditions that vary in their severity and causes. Mouth sores could be the symptom of a disease or disorder; infection from bacteria, viruses or fungus; or the result of irritation caused by braces, dentures or the sharp edge of a broken tooth or filling. Your dentist should examine any mouth sore that lasts a week or longer. 

5. Bad breath 

Bad breath can be caused by what you eat, not cleaning your mouth, dry mouth, smoking or other medical conditions. Persistent bad breath also can be one of the warning signs of gum disease. Brushing twice a day and flossing daily are essential to reducing bad breath and preventing gum disease. Brushing your tongue can help, too. If you’re concerned about what’s causing your bad breath, see your dentist, who can determine the cause and a treatment plan. 

6. Jaw pain or clicking in the jaw 

Many things can cause these symptoms, which can make it difficult to diagnose. Possible causes include sinus problems, toothache, arthritis, injury, teeth grinding, gum disease or problems with your jaw, such as TMJ. Your dentist will conduct a thorough exam, which might include X-rays, to determine the source of the pain. 

7. Dry mouth 

If you have dry mouth, it might be the symptom of a medical disorder or a side effect of certain medications. Saliva is the mouth’s primary defense against tooth decay. It washes away food and other debris, neutralizes acids produced by bacteria in the mouth and provides disease-fighting substances throughout the mouth. Your dentist can recommend ways to restore moisture. 

8. Oral piercing infection 

Oral piercings can create a wide range of problems for your health, oral and otherwise. Your mouth is home to huge amounts of bacteria, creating an ideal place for infection to start. If you have any signs of infection — swelling, pain, fever, chills, shaking or a red streaked appearance around the site of the piercing — contact your dentist or physician immediately. 

9. Cracked or broken teeth 

A cracked or broken tooth can happen for a variety of reasons — brittle teeth, grinding or injury. The crack might be not be visible to the naked eye, or even an X-ray, but they can be incredibly painful and create bigger problems if left untreated. If you experience pain when chewing, see your dentist. 

10. Stained or discolored teeth 

Over time, your teeth can become stained and change color. This often is the result of eating certain foods, such as coffee or tea, smoking, aging, genetics, injury or certain medications. Whitening options can include over-the-counter or in-office treatments. Check with your dentist about your options for stain removal. 

Brought to you by the 600 members of the West Michigan District Dental Society in Kent, Ottawa, Ionia, Mecosta and Montcalm counties. West Michigan District Dental Society dentists also are members of the Michigan Dental Association.

 

It is predicted that by 2020 HPV will cause more ORAL cancer than Cervical Cancer. OraRisk testing is available and recommended.

WASHINGTON — A prolonged sore throat once was considered a cancer worry mainly for smokers and drinkers. Today there's another risk: A sexually transmitted virus is fueling a rise in oral cancer.
The HPV virus is best known for causing cervical cancer. But it can cause cancer in the upper throat, too, and a new study says HPV-positive tumors now account for a majority of these cases of what is called oropharyngeal cancer.

If that trend continues, that type of oral cancer will become the nation's main HPV-related cancer within the decade, surpassing cervical cancer, researchers from Ohio State University and the National Cancer Institute report Monday.

"There is an urgency to try to figure out how to prevent this," says Dr. Amy Chen of the American Cancer Society and Emory University, who wasn't part of the new research.
While women sometimes get oral cancer caused by the HPV, the risk is greatest and rising among men, researchers reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. No one knows why, but it begs the question of whether the vaccine given to girls and young women to protect against cervical cancer also might protect against oral HPV.

HPV vaccination is approved for boys to prevent genital warts and anal cancer, additional problems caused by human papillomavirus. But protection against oral HPV hasn't been studied in either gender, says Dr. Maura Gillison, a head-and-neck cancer specialist at Ohio State and senior author of the new research. That's important, because it's possible to have HPV in one part of the body but not the other, she says. A spokeswoman for Merck & Co., maker of the HPV vaccine Gardasil, said the company has no plans for an oral cancer study.

Monday's research was funded by the NCI and Ohio State. Gillison has been a consultant to Merck.
There are nearly 10,000 new cases of oropharyngeal cancer a year, and overall incidence has risen by 28 percent since 1988 even as other types of head-and-neck cancer have been declining.

Tobacco and alcohol have long been the main causes of these tumors, which occur in the tonsils, base of the tongue and upper throat. But over the past few years, studies have shown HPV is playing a role in that rise, probably due to an increase in oral sex even as tobacco use was dropping.

The new study took a closer look, tracking HPV over time by directly testing tumor tissue from 271 patients that had been stored in cancer registries in Hawaii, Iowa and Los Angeles. The proportion that were HPV-positive rose from just 16 percent in the late 1980s to nearly 73 percent by the early 2000s.
Translate that to the overall population, and the researchers concluded that incidence rates of the HPV-positive tumors more than tripled while HPV-negative tumors dropped by half.

Oral cancer has always been a bigger threat to men than women. Gillison says women account for only about 1 in 4 cases, and their incidence is holding steady while men's is rising. That raises questions about gender differences in sexual behavior or whether oral HPV infection is likely to linger longer in men.

While HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection, studies show women's bodies usually clear the virus from the cervix quickly; only an infection that persists for years is a cancer risk. It's not known if oral HPV acts similarly or even is as common.

Nor is it clear if oral sex is the only way it's transmitted, cautions Dr. Gregory Masters of the American Society for Clinical Oncology, an oncologist at Delaware's Helen Graham Cancer Center.
Regardless, just over 11,000 cases of cervical cancer will be diagnosed this year, a number that has been dropping steadily thanks to better Pap smears. (It's too soon to know what difference vaccination will make.) Gillison's team calculated that annual cases of cervical cancer will drop to 7,700 by 2020 – compared with about 8,700 cases of HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer by then, about 7,400 of them in men.

The cancer society's Chen urged caution about those numbers, saying more data is needed. But she says two things are clear: First, patients with HPV-linked oral tumors have better survival odds than those with other types of this cancer, possibly because they tend to be younger. Studies are beginning to test if they can scale back today's treatment and thus suffer fewer long-term side effects such as problems with speech and swallowing.

And "just because you're not a smoker or drinker doesn't mean you can't get throat cancer," Chen says – so get checked for symptoms like a throat that's sore for longer than two weeks.

~ Lauran Neergaard - Huffington Post

Our office offers The OraRisk^® HPV Salivary Diagnostic Test

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common virus groups in the world. According to the Centers for Disease Control, at least 20 million people in the United States are infected with HPV and there are approximately 6 million new cases each year.

Oral HPV is a manifestation of the HPV virus in the mouth, and is primarily found in the oropharyngeal complex. Specific types of oral HPV are now considered to be separate and serious risk factor for developing oral cancers. Early detection and identification of the presence or absence of oral HPV is important, as early oral HPV infections do not typically cause any clinical signs or symptoms.
The OraRisk^® HPV test is a non-invasive, easy-to-use screening tool to identify the type(s) of oral HPV, a mucosal viral infection that could potentially lead to oral cancer. OraRisk^® HPV enables the clinician to establish increased risk for oral cancer and determine appropriate referral and monitoring conditions.

Who should be tested?

• Patients with traditional risk factors for oral cancer
• Patients who are sexually active
• Patients with signs and symptoms of oral cancer
• Patients with suspicious oral lesions

Schedule an appointment for your OraRisk^® HPV Salivary Diagnostic Test