Our Story
It was a lovely warm autumn afternoon in the neighborhood when I ran into Brenda Jones at the bus stop. I was walking Rome; she was waiting on the school bus. It dawned on me that Michael and I haven't run into her and Bob at Bella Italia in a long time, so naturally I asked about him. She explained Bob was having a rough time healing from his second surgery from oral cancer.
I thought a lot about Bob on my walk around the neighborhood, a perfect 5K! He is not alone. Over 49,750 Americans will be diagnosed this year.
The next day, I suggested a fun run for oral cancer awareness to my senior dental assisting students to do as a class project. Holly, president of the Virginia Beach Tech Ed Center chapter of the Health Occupations Students of America, and Jaclyn, special projects chairperson, took the idea and ran with it. This fundraiser is the result of their efforts.
According to Oralcancerfoundation.org:
The human papilloma virus (HPV) is now confirmed to cause oral cancer in a younger age group. In particular, the sexually transmitted HPV 16 is conclusively implicated in increasing the incidence of oral cancer in young, non-smoking oral cancer patients. New data illustrates that HPV 16 may replace tobacco as the primary causative agent in people under age 50.
One of the dangers is in its early stages, oral cancer can go unnoticed. The good news is that in many cases, a physician or dentist can see or feel the precursor tissue changes, or the actual cancer while it is still very small or in its early ages.
Oral cancer comprises 85% of all head and neck cancers. A substantial amount of them could be prevented through awareness, for the patient as well as the dental healthcare professional. In fact, the cover story of this month's Journal of the American Dental Association illustrates the need for dental providers to become better prepared to detect lesions.
For more information, visit www.oralcancerfoundation.org