Scary enough the #1 cause of newly diagnosed oropharyngeal cancer (throat and tonsil cancers) are now caused by the Human Papilloma Virus, not by smoking or heavy alcohol consumption. This has changed the demographic of our new “typical cancer patient” to a younger less-suspecting population. Dentists are now performing routing oral cancer screening as part of their dental exams to pick this up at an early stage.
The medical community is also responding with new consumer-friendly screenings to examine HPV presence and (more importantly) to further subtype the viruses found looking for the high-risk sub-types.
This is a simple “swish and spit” test available for under $200 that examines trace amount of virus particles that may be present in the mouth or throat for the high-risk varieties. Although the incidence of progression to cancer is not shored up for oral cancers, women with high risk subtypes on pap smears can see up to a 15% progression to cancer over the coming years. Oropharyngeal cancer likely follows a similar path.
Until further guidelines are developed, an oral / oropharyngeal cancer screening should be considered yearly, and I recommend including the swish and spit test, physical examination, and nasopharyngoscopy. Smoking and heavy alcohol intake is still a definite no-no.