HPV and Oral Cancer

For many people, they don’t know that HPV and oral cancer are connected, but they are very important to understand. We’ll go over both, and why it’s important that if you have either one of these, you do get the help that you need.

Now, what is HPV? Simply put, this is the human papillomavirus, which is a very common STD. most sexually active adults carry it, and most people will never show symptoms, being silent carriers of this. The problem however, is that it causes deadly cancers including cervical, oral, and rectal cancers.

There are over 200 varieties of this, but not all cause cancer, however HPV actually contributes to about 60-70% of cancer diagnoses, while in the past most thought that smoking caused this. HPV vaccines are available, but they aren’t 100% effective at treating this. You could be carrying it without knowing it, and often, it goes away within 2 years and doesn’t cause health issues.

Now, while this does go away after a while, it still leaves you at risk for a wide variety of health issues, including cervical, penile, and rectal cancers. You might also put your mouth, throat, tongue, tonsils, and gums at risk. If you’re not a smoker, a male, and between the age of 35-55, you’re at a higher risk for this type of cancer. Along with that though, people that already have a weaker immune system, such as from HIV or AIDS, or have had organ transplants, you could be at risk because your body can’t fight off this.

Now, is there a test for it? Well, the biggest thing to realize is that if you have it, you’ll get genital warts if you’re male. However, one thing of note, is that if you do have this, you can’t tell at all. Now, a pap smear can help identify it in women, especially for those over the age of 30. A doctor can run a DNA test on this, and it can tell you immediately if HPV is present. That’s why many gynecologists encourage this, especially in those women that are around the age range, since more often than not, it could be there and you don’t even know it.

Now, there is a vaccine for it, and typically, you can get it as a child. Most boys get it early on, and so do girls. Additionally, before they become sexually active, you might also get it again as well.

Now, what are the symptoms of this? Well, if you have a sore throat or cough that goes away, pain when you swallow or chew, pain going as far up as the ear, lymph nodes that are tender and swollen, along with tonsils that are the like, a raspy voice, mouth sores that don’t heal within a couple of weeks, any sorts of discolorations in the mouth, lumps that are located on the outside of your neck area, numbness in the lips or mouth, and earaches that seem to happen only in one ear, then it might be a sign that you could have this.

However, the biggest thing to remember from this whole array of symptoms, is that while there are a lot, it can mean different causes. For example, lots of these look like symptoms for the cold or flu, sore tonsils, allergies, or even just a sore throat. Now, the best thing to do if you’re worried that you’re getting this, is to go schedule it with your doctor or dentist chandler az. They can check you out, give you the proper diagnosis. Remember, with this, you can’t be too careful, and it’s important that you make sure that you do whatever it is that you need to do in order to ensure that you’ve got the best health that you can possibly get.

Your moral and physical health are both very important, and this article discussed some of the big parts of this. do keep these in mind, and if you do have any sorts of symptoms, or feel like there might be something there, then it’s time that you do what you need to do, and go see your doctor before it’s too late.