Dr Steffany Mohan, DDS | Oral Cancer- Things You Should Know

time to achieve a great smile we call on

the efforts of our very favorite dentist

about dr. Stephanie in studio from Plaza

dental and this morning we're talking

about something that is pretty serious

and it got some attention a while ago

because of something that happened to an

actor we all know Michael Douglas talked

about getting oral and gum cancer and

then there was somebody else who is

recently as an article came up this

morning the drummer for the rock band

poison Rikki Rockett announced that he

has oral cancer he has been treated for

it he said in from the worst cancers to

treat but it's treatable yeah but he is

going through this now and he wants to

get out and tell everybody what in the

world causes this he's 54 years old and

they say guys over 50 are more

susceptible to get Reyes right

absolutely yeah and and smokers are much

more susceptible I mean I'm not sure

that there's a cancer alive that isn't

affected by smoking and it's the

combination of smoking and alcohol and

even alcohol in mouth rinses no way yes

yeah really yeah it's I mean it's it's

the same compound it's alcohol so I mean

are you talking about wine and beer I'm

talking about wine and beer but I'm also

talking about Listerine do you mean

causes cancer do you rinse jar they're

good right in here I mean it's is that

on Friday and Saturday nights no that's

okay but yeah so that's that's one of

the things is that the combination of

smoking and alcohol is actually a really

really bad combination all right so but

yea even mouth rinses so they have new

mouth rinses that they've taken a lot of

the alcohol out of right because because

just because of that reason because it's

not really necessary it dries out the

mouth it you know can kayak chua Lee

cause bad breath which is kind of funny

if you dry out the mouth you have more

tendency to get bad breath but that

alcohol in in different products that

will cause some of that drying no let's

talk about something else that some

people are there saying that it possibly

could be related to we're talking about

the old fillings that a lot of us used

to get right can be it can be attributed

to mercury fillings because because

there's the old mercury filling their

left and and

really you know it's still used I mean

we still use it in the United States we

don't use it in our office and have it

for years and years and years because we

just don't believe that if you've there

are two places that I can put a silver

or mercury silver filling I can put one

in your mouth anybody's mouth and I can

put it in the hazardous waste but I

can't put it in the trash I can't put it

down the scene are you sure I'm totally

serious yeah I have to put it in

hazardous waste turn places you can

that's it yeah but having a filling if

you had one way back in the day back

cause well I mean it it's it's

definitely there's controversy as far as

you know mercury is is definitely a

toxic material so it mean the fact that

we still you know in this country allow

people to put it in is kind of crazy

really and I mean and that's my opinion

there's there's a lot of different if

you know what about that were they

reasoning behind using that type of

filling was I yes it's very durable it's

very it can be it's called a malgam it

can be amalgamated or made into a kind

of a paste aura that you can put into a

tooth very easily into a filling and

it's durable I mean they do last a very

very long time and people have you know

mercury silver you know amalgam fillings

that they've had in for 20 30 40 years I

think I have some right now right

absolutely so today we don't necessarily

advocate you know taking out a good

filling but at the same time you know if

somebody has an issue it's not a bad

thing to have it you know take out all

right yes it is it a major process with

the process like that yeah no it's no

it's just you know taking out I mean

that you know most people have had a

feeling so it's not any different than

taking out however when you do have

mercury fillings taken out we use a

different process we use we actually

give oxygen to the patient we use a

protective dental dam that we put over

the tooth and so that none of that the

regressor doing join the rubber traffic

jam alenia none of that residue gets

into the you know the mouth of the

throne and there's a dentist behind a

shield they got some remote control

robotic and

yeah not yet clear now a major cause of

oral cancer is smoking yes and the other

other cause that's really really really

common is HPV human papillomavirus so

it's a sexually transmitted disease as

well that can live in the in the oral

cavity so it's something that that

that's actually like a major major cause

of oral cancer how about the business

happening so I feel like you don't hear

about not so oral cancer is more common

than cervical cancer really yes it's yep

its more common its its your right we

don't talk about it I don't hear much on

luckily most oral cancers are caught by

a dentist doing you know they pull out

your tongue and they look underneath it

and feel your neck and all that kind of

thing there it's caught by those types

of exams more than anything else and if

somebody has something in their math

that just isn't healing a sore in their

mouth that doesn't heal that's if that's

a bad sign so it's you know we really I

mean most people visit their dentist out

of reasonably regular basis hopefully

it's good for you because we can check

for those types of cancers and it is its

more common than cervical cancer and

it's it just doesn't get a lot of press

yeah we've talked about smoking we

talked about alcohol and alcohol based

mouthwash not good and could possibly

cause this I'm recruiting and just what

about chewing tobacco oh yeah that's

terrible I mean it might be terrible but

yeah is that something else to consider

people if you're watching going what

about chew tobacco if any time we talk

about smoking tobacco is tobacco okay

shoot and actually chewing tobacco

because people put it in one specific

spot right we I mean you know if you're

gonna chew tobacco move it to different

spots that's not a great strategy really

i mean you know having that in your

mouth is a very very high risk of oral

cancer right yeah wow so i know there's

so many things that I mean we don't

realize what it does and then you really

brought the whole show down

think about it it's good to know this

information but your other good reason

go to your dentist but find someone who

cares like I've been to a dance before

they've never right right yeah so here's

the other thing that's really

interesting too is that yeah sure I mean

we all should everybody should get one

of those every year you know at least

and most people it's just a matter of

course they do them every time that they

they have somebody in the chair but it's

it's very very important that you just

have that kind of regular checkup

because there's so many things that

we're looking for that we don't tell you

that we're looking for all the time it's

really important that you actually think

about that and and I mean I know a lot

of people like to go to the dentist i

get is really too i hear it every day so

I know but it's really important that we

we really have those those checks it's

about education it's a continued

conversation about prevention bethought

if you're uncomfortable like you said if

you're uncomfortable going to you know

where you're going or somebody lectures

you or makes you feel bad or something

like that you know we we have total

amnesty we were nice to people you know

well we don't want them to feel like

they're they're little kids and if they

want to get in touch with you guys

what's the best way to do so the best

way is diem smiles calm that's our

website and it's the easiest way to find

us and we're on jordan creek parkway so

beautiful one of a good job thank you so

much ready for sochi have a good holiday

you too all right