April is Oral and Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Month, a time to pause to consider the ravages of this disease and rededicate our efforts as oral health care providers to do our part to find oral and oropharyngeal cancers at an early stage.

Hopefully, by now, each of us is well aware of the importance of our role to search for signs of oral and head and neck cancer in each of our patients and how we can make a significant impact in the staggering statistics associated with this disease: One American dies each hour of every day from oral cancer. [Read more…]

Scientific Background

Saliva has been shown to have a rich biomarker alphabet which includes DNA, RNA, proteins, metabolites and microbes. The mechanisms by which the salivary gland alters it secretion in the presence of disease in a topic of ongoing investigation, but some elements such as transcription factors and exosomes have been identified.

The National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research have heavily supported the development of the science of salivary diagnostics for more than a decade. The messenger RNAs or transcriptome reflect gene expression which has been demonstrated in animal models of melanoma and lung cancer to change in response to systemic disease. [Read more…]

There is a movement that is quietly taking place in health care. Like any movement that ultimately gives rise to change, the shift is subtle and still unnoticed by many. But as dental professionals pause next month to draw attention to the horrors of oral, head, and neck cancer (OHNC), it is important to realize how this trend is affecting and will continue to affect the way we search for and manage this disease. The revolutionary concept is known as personalized or individualized health care. [Read more…]