You're pulling my leg....er...tongue

Have you gone to the dentist lately and we ask you to stick your tongue out at us? You, being a wonderful and polite person haven’t done that since grade school! You ask – you’re pulling my leg…you’re kidding right?!! Well – no actually – we ARE pulling your tongue! And for good reason! We aren’t asking you to relive your sand box days, we are checking your tongue for any changes – changes in color, changes in texture, trauma – or in the worst case scenario, and most importantly, oral cancer.

I wanted to share with today’s blog that there is a new FDA requirement that a picture of oral cancer (lesion on the lip) be placed on cigarette packaging. So keep your eye out. This is with the intention and hope of education, and hopefully determent for people today to NOT smoke.  Will this be a big enough deterrent to smoking!??!  It is DEFINITELY one more step in the right direction but it is your health professionals and specifically dentists that are often the ones to spot oral cancer because we ARE looking in the mouth and there is your tongue - right in the middle. How we can miss it???

Cancer ANYTHING is scary to everyone. But oral cancer – while smoking makes you at HIGHER risk, there ARE cases where people who don’t smoke and they are diagnosed with it! We have all seen those commercials where a woman is smoking from the hole in her neck. That ALONE freaks me out enough not to smoke.  But everyone KNOWS that smoking is bad FOR them…BUT the tobacco industry continues. ..less prevalent than it was before thankfully. But I see a lot of people who smoke even though they know they shouldn’t. 

We as dentists and those in the health profession KNOW that it is hard to quit and know that there IS a high rate of relapse – we are FIGHTING ADDICTION.  And trust me – we KNOW that life is stressful and we are not trying to add to it. (there are a lot of smokers in my class of over 270 sadly to say). We know it helps keep people slim and keep from eating (why you would want this I don’t know – food is GOOD). But we are, trying to help fight, for you.

Is this picture on cigarette boxes going to be effective enough to stop people from getting a pack of smokes? It is yet to be seen.  I HOPE so!

But please – don’t be shy with your dentist. There are a lot of free oral cancer screening days - you can ask your dentist! But...please.. Let us pull your tongue! 

Special thanks for this photo: emywinchester.wordpress.com