60-Year-Old Woman’s Sore Throat Leads to Mouth Cancer Diagnosis At Routine Dental Check-Up

“I had a sore throat on and off. It was in winter so I didn’t think much about it, but because it wasn’t going away I just asked [my dentist] to check the back of my throat," Clark told the BBC.

Upon inspection, Clark's dentist noticed a "strange lesion" on one of her tonsils. Clark was shocked when she learned that the wound might be evidence of mouth cancer.

It turned out that this discovery might have been one of the luckiest moments of Clark's life. Her dentist, Dr. Catherine Tannahill, spoke to BBC about the importance of recognizing symptoms of cancer early. "Catching them early means that they are very treatable," she said. "It's easy to access and treat and it's good if we can do that, because it is so much of a better outcome for the patient."

According to Dr. Tannahill and the Oral Health Foundation, some of the symptoms of mouth cancer are long-lasting ulcers, red and white patches, as well as unusual lumps and bumps.

Clark had surgery to remove her tonsils followed by a course of radiotherapy and is now in remission.

Steve Kafka of Thrive Earlier Detection discusses the future of cancer screening.

Mouth Cancer Basics

Mouth cancer (also called oral cavity cancer) is a type of head and neck cancer that can appear anywhere in the mouth–on the lips, cheeks, tongue, tonsils or gums. Mouth cancer affects about 30,000 Americans every year.

In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Dr. Allen Ho of Cedars Sinai explained the typical process of identifying and analyzing mouth cancer. Ho acknowledged that mouth cancers are often identified by dentists during exams before routine cleaning.

“Many dentists will find little cystic lesions, or benign growths in the tongue or around the mouth, or the gingiva. Oftentimes, they’re benign, or nothing to be overly concerned about,” he said. When these lesions and growths may be cancerous, though, Dr. Ho said that the workup typically involves confirming the diagnosis, testing to assess the specifics of the cancer, and conducting imaging (like an MRI, a CT, or a PET-CT) to determine whether the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

For mouth cancers, biopsies can often be performed directly without surgery. Biopsies allow doctors determine the stage of the mouth cancer, and help patients weigh different treatment options. For early stage mouth cancers, the typical treatment path is surgery alone. For stage three and stage four mouth cancer, radiation usually accompanies surgery. For advanced stage mouth cancers that also have other qualities that make it more aggressive, doctors will typically  add chemotherapy on top of radiation and surgery. Detecting mouth cancer as early as possible allows for doctors to use the least invasive treatment procedures available.–it also gives these treatments the best chance of being effective.

28-year-old lung cancer survivor Amanda Kouri advocates for early detection, because she wants everyone with cancer to have a story like hers.

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