0:00
Hi.
It's my pleasure to be here today.
And I'm going to present
the topic on oral cancer
for the general dentist.
My name is Alessandro Villa.
I'm an Associate in Surgery in
the Division of Oral Medicine
and Dentistry at Brigham
and Women's Hospital,
Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
And we are based in
the Longwood Medical Area,
and we are also affiliated with
Harvard School of Dental Medicine.
0:26
Today we're going to talk about
how to perform a good head and neck
exam for the general dentist.
I'm going to give you a general
overview on the oral potentially
malignant disorders.
And also we're going
to talk specifically
about oral cancer, which
are the signs and symptoms
and how it's treated.
0:48
The visual inspection
is the current standard
and it consists of a thorough head
and neck and intraoral examination,
with the examination of
the cervical lymph nodes
and visual examination and palpation
of the oral mucosal surfaces.
However, one limitation
of the head and neck exam,
in particular of
the exam of the oral cavity,
is that it has a low
sensitivity and specificity.
And another problem
is that cancer can arise
also from visually normal surfaces.
1:21
This slide you see pictures and
photos of a healthy patient.
And when we perform
an oral examination,
we want to check
the vestibular area,
the lower and upper labial mucosa.
You want to examine the hard palate,
the floor of the mouth, carefully.
