ADA Releases Updated Guidelines on Oral Cancer Detection
The new recommendations emphasize the role of dental visits as the key to reducing oral cancer deaths, which number more than 8,300 every year in the United States.
The American Dental Association (ADA) just released a living guideline on oral cancer detection, the first such update since 2017. The guideline asserts that oral examinations conducted by licensed dental professionals are the most important step in detecting oral cancer early. And early detection is important with more than 38,700 new cases of oral cancer diagnosed each year in the United States, which result in 8,390 annual deaths.
The guideline also states that surgical biopsy is the only concrete way to diagnose oral potentially malignant disorders and oral and lip squamous cell carcinomas. Additionally, the guideline does not recommend the use of adjunct oral cancer diagnostic tools such as cytology, light-based, vital staining, or salivary adjuncts.
This living guideline is part of the ADA’s Living Guideline Program, which uses the traditional research-based standards and scientific rigor of previous guidelines but allows for additional updates once new evidence is uncovered. Click here to read more.
