April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month, an ideal time to focus on preventing what the World Health Organization deems the 13th most common cancer around the globe.
Dental healthcare professionals can play a significant role in the fight against oral cancer. Beyond supporting healthy teeth and bright smiles, they are often the front line of oral cancer education, prevention, and detection.
While oral cancer is on the rise—particularly in young adults—medical advances are bringing new hope to patients of all ages. This article will cover groundbreaking oral cancer treatment options, common risk factors, and ways to prevent the disease.
Oral cancer is typically defined as cancer of the oral cavity, lips, or oropharynx (middle throat). The likelihood of developing the disease can be reduced by avoiding risk factors. According to the American Cancer Society, patients can reduce the risk of developing oral cancer by avoiding tobacco, reducing alcohol intake, limiting sun exposure, eating a healthy diet, having regular dental checkups, and protecting themselves from or getting vaccinated against HPV (human papillomavirus).
While not all cases of the disease can be prevented, great progress is being made in the management, prevention, and treatment of oral cancer. This includes the development of personalized cancer vaccines, which are currently in the clinical trials phase. They employ the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines to help the immune system target and reduce the recurrence of cancer cells.
The ideal oral cancer treatment options depend on critical factors such as the type and stage of the cancer and the state of the patient’s health. Artificial intelligence is helping oncologists tailor and optimize treatments for individual patients using the three main approaches to treating oral cancer: surgery, radiation, and systemic therapy.
Surgery is the most common treatment for oral cancer. Advances in robotics, including transoral robotic surgery (TORS), can enable surgeons to see and reach inaccessible areas. TORS is also known to be less invasive, reducing recovery times. The integration of AI algorithms into surgical robotics can improve the overall accuracy and precision of the surgery, while AI-enabled remote monitoring tools can aid in aftercare and disease management.
When it comes to radiation therapy, AI-enhanced innovations can deliver more focused and powerful doses of radiation with higher accuracy. For example, three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) can precisely map the location of the cancer and shape the beams to avoid healthy tissue. The intensity of the beams can also be customized in 3D-CRT, using intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) delivered through a machine that moves around the patient. Additionally, the use of proton beams in radiation therapy instead of X-rays can provide a safer option. Unlike X-rays, which travel through the patient, proton beams travel a specific distance, delivering radiation to the depth of the cancer cells while limiting exposure to the underlying tissue.
Systemic or drug therapy, such as chemotherapy drugs, can be combined with radiation therapy or used before surgery to eliminate or control cancer cells. Other systemic therapies include targeted cancer therapy, which can be used in metastatic oral cancer to interfere with cancer-causing genes and halt or slow development at the cellular level. In recurrent or metastatic oral cancer, immunotherapy can be used to improve the body’s ability to recognize and kill cancer cells. Advances in AI are enabling oncologists to customize therapies and dosages for individual patients, model and minimize risk, and predict patient response.
For optimal patient outcomes, oral cancer treatment should be tailored to each patient. While there is no blanket cure for the different types of oral cancer, AI and customized precision oncology are helping to move research, diagnosis, and treatment forward with exciting new advancements to stop cancer in its tracks.