One person dies every seven minutes in India due to Oral Cancer

Bangalore, Aug 30 (UNI) There is a death due to Oral Cancer every seven minutes in the country and about 92,000 new cases reported every year, Indian Dental Association General Secretary Ashok Dhoble said today.

He said that 80 per cent of the Oral Cancer cases reported were in the late stages and the five-year survival was in the range of 30 per cent as majority were detected in the late stages.

Dr Dhoble was speaking after launch of India's first revolutionary and pathbreaking 'Brush Biopsy' technology for Oral Cencer prevention by former Cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin and formation of Oral Cancer Foundation here.

He said that Oral Cancer ranks number one among men and women in dental diseases the country. Oral Cancer constitutes 12 per cent of all cancers in Men and eight per cent of all cancers among Women.

Saying that use of tobacco was the main reason for oral cancer, he said it was estimated that 400 million individuals aged 15 years and above use in one form or the other.

Scientist and inventor of the 'Brush Biopsy' Dr Mark Rutenberg said that formation of the Foundation and the launch of the revolutionary 'Brush Biopsy' technology would ensure the resultant decrease in number of oral cancer deaths in India.

The Oral CDx, a computer assisted method for analysis of the oral brush biopsy, can aid in confirming the nature of apparently benign oral lesions and more significantly, revealing those that are precancerous and cancerous when they were not clinically suspected of being so. Oral CDx can prevent oral cancer by facilitating routine painless testing of the common, small while and red areas in the mouth that appear in about 10 per cent of the adult population, he added.

In his address, Azaruddin said that there is a need to create awarness against oral cancer.

UNI