Chapters authored
Non-Invasive Methods for Early Diagnosis of Oral Cancer
Oral cancer is a public health problem because of its high morbidity and mortality, and when not treated in a timely manner, it is significantly mutilating, causing damage to the physical and psychological aspects of patients and directly interfering with their quality of life. Several factors influence the early diagnosis of this pathology, including lack of self-care related to oral health, especially among people with prolonged use of dental prosthesis; delayed perception of the lesion; delayed search for professional assistance since the lesion is noticed by the patient; lack of information about oral cancer, its risk and protective factors, and oral lesions that may be suggestive of cancer; lack of health promotion and prevention activities aimed at oral cancer; and lack of training in oral cancer among oral health professionals. These factors must be tackled to promote the timely diagnosis of this pathology. The use of reliable noninvasive diagnosis methods is also important because they can be easily made available in low resource settings, increasing the coverage of people who are under risk of developing oral cancer.
Part of the book: Oral Diseases