In honor of Oral Cancer Awareness Month, The Cancer Center at Renaissance, the Rio Grande Valley Academy of General Dentistry and the Jack T. Clark Foundation conducted free oral cancer screenings on April 13th.
Oral cancer is not a rare disease. Approximately 42,000 people will be diagnosed with oral cancer every year in the US. It kills one person every hour of every day, and over 100 new individuals will be diagnosed with it each day. The good news is that it can often be found early in its development, through a simple, painless, and quick screening.
The free oral cancer screenings were held at the Cancer Center at Renaissance in Edinburg, Texas from 9:00 AM until 11:30 AM. There were over twenty volunteers comprised of local area dentists, hygienists and MD’s who were able to screen 97 people.
The goal of the Jack T. Clark Foundation is to bring physicians and dentists together to serve the oral health needs of cancer patients. The foundation’s vision is to strive to ease the suffering from oral conditions related to cancer and cancer therapy. The foundation aims to spread awareness and to increase the available resources on oral health for cancer patients. Since its inception, the Jack T. Clark Foundation has performed over 3,500 oral cancer screenings, distributed educational information to 250,000 people, and held 640 hours of classroom and hands-on training about oral cancer, and oral complications for dental professionals.
If you want more information or would like to learn more on how to prevent oral cancer email Dr. Joe Zacarias DDS
