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Screening for Oral Cancer

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Textbook of Oral Cancer

Part of the book series: Textbooks in Contemporary Dentistry ((TECD))

Abstract

Oral cancer is a serious health problem and appears to be amenable to screening. The oral cavity is easy to examine, and studies have shown that healthcare workers can detect oral potentially malignant lesions with a sensitivity and specificity similar to that found to be acceptable in other screening programs. However, there remain considerable barriers to the implementation of screening programs. The criteria for a positive test may not detect the lesions that are most likely to be malignant or that will progress to malignancy, and there is a lack of evidence to show that a screening program will reduce mortality. Studies have suggested that opportunistic screening of high-risk groups may be effective and cost-effective, but further research is needed to refine the criteria for a positive screen and to determine the best methods for identifying and targeting high-risk groups.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Paul M. Speight

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  1. Paul M. Speight
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Correspondence to Paul M. Speight .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences,, King’s College London, London, UK

    Saman Warnakulasuriya

  2. Department of Orofacial Sciences, Schools of Dentistry and Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    John S. Greenspan

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Speight, P.M. (2020). Screening for Oral Cancer. In: Warnakulasuriya, S., Greenspan, J. (eds) Textbook of Oral Cancer. Textbooks in Contemporary Dentistry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32316-5_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32316-5_16

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