When it comes to cancer, there's no question that early detection is critical.
Now there's an easy way to see whether you have a virus strongly linked to oral and throat cancer that can be performed right in the dentist's office.
The test is for the oral human papilloma virus, which is sexually transmitted and can cause oral or throat cancer. The test detects one of two particularly dangerous forms of HPV -- known as 16 and 18 -- long before the virus develops into cancer and creates lesions.
Austin dentist Michael C. Hall is the first in Central Texas to offer the test, which requires a patient to gargle a special saltwater solution for 30 seconds, then spit into a tube. The tube and contents are then sent away for testing.
"If you have 16 or 18, it doesn't mean you'll get oral cancer, but it really raises your chances a lot,'' Bell said. "You go into a higher risk group. So I think knowledge is power."
Bell says he would refer anyone who tests positive to an oral surgeon and ear, nose and throat specialist for further treatment.
"If you know you have the infection, then you would be placed in a higher risk category and you should be followed more closely," he said.
Bell says dentists perform annual exams on patients to detect oral cancer, but in many cases can't see lesions until the disease has progressed. He says new laser detection helps dentists spot problems much earlier, but still not until problems have begun to develop.
He says oral cancer has particularly tough to fight because of it's so difficult to detect at an early stage.
"It doesn't have a lot of signs and symptoms, and by the time people get diagnosed, it's progressed," Bell said. "Once it spreads to the lymph nodes, I think the survival rate goes down to like 25 percent. If you catch it early, the survival rate is really good. It's like any cancer, it's all early detection, get it out of the body and you're done."
Patient Denise Ciardello had the test Wednesday and said it was easy and painless.
"It's a great technology that insurance should be paying for just like they pay for our paps and our mammograms and everything else we go through," she said.
Ciardello says she has a friend battling oral cancer, and knows first-hand the value of early detection.
"If this is something that could have prevented all of what he is going through right now, it would have been awesome," she said.
Dr. Bell charges about $120 for the oral HPV test.
