Oral Cancer Screening

I do an oral cancer screening on all patients, and usually end up doing about 1 biopsy a month. I use magnification glasses, and it only takes about 20 seconds- I know what to look for!  This month I did 3 biopsies, and that motivated me to write this blog post on oral cancer exams.  Two were benign fibromas, and the other was a papiloma (HPV) showing mild to moderate dysplasia. I removed this fibroma on the inside of the patient’s lower lip because he kept biting it and it was annoying and bothering him.

fibroma
fibroma on lower lip
fibroma_suture
fibroma removed and sutured

The papilloma virus patient  had no idea the lesion was there. This lesion was way back on his soft palate and I didn’t even see it until I held his tongue down to check his throat. This papilloma was showing mild to moderate dysplastic changes and could have turned into oral cancer.

papilloma_soft_palate
papilloma

papilloma_palate 

oral_pathology_report
pathology report