New hope for an oral cancer solution: together we can make a difference.
Oral cancer is associated with high mortality and morbidity rates, largely as a result of late diagnosis. Although dental practitioners are trained to identify premalignant and malignant lesions, an organized system is needed to offer guidance and to improve access to experts in diagnosis and management of these lesions. In this article, we describe the many ways in which the British Columbia Oral Cancer Prevention Program (BC OCPP) is addressing this challenge: by linking community dental practices and referral centres, by creating partnerships between scientists and clinicians that already have resulted in new technologies to enhance early diagnosis, by involving a broad range of stakeholders to ensure population-based screening and by engaging in provincial, national and international outreach.
Rosin
Miriam P
MP
Simon Fraser University, and BC Oral Cancer Prevention Program, BC Cancer Agency/Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Poh
Catherine F
CF
Elwood
J Mark
JM
Williams
P Michele
PM
Gallagher
Richard
R
MacAulay
Calum
C
Lam
Wan W
WW
Auluck
Ajit
A
Zhang
Lewei
L
Hislop
T Gregory
TG
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D001955:British Columbia; D002170:Canada; D004396:Coloring Agents; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D005453:Fluorescence; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012040:Regional Health Planning; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D014048:Tolonium Chloride
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D004396:Coloring Agents; D014048:Tolonium Chloride