MILWAUKEE — To mark Oral Cancer Awareness Month, free oral cancer screenings will be available for all Veterans during an April 30 event at the Milwaukee VA Medical Center.
No appointments are needed for the screenings, which will take place 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Matousek Auditorium of the medical center, 5000 W. National Ave., Milwaukee. Veterans do not need to qualify for VA health care or VA dental care to be screened. Milwaukee VA employees can also be screened.
Screenings take about 15 minutes and include examination inside the mouth as well as outside the head and neck. Dietary, nutrition and lifestyle experts will be on hand, along with tobacco cessation counselors.
“We’ll be looking for any signs of oral cancer, skin cancer or anything out of the ordinary,” said Dr. Kandice Klepper, Milwaukee VA periodontist. “We’re teaming up with other departments to help identify risk factors and provide more information to participants.”
Veterans tend to be at higher risk of oral cancer than the general population, Klepper said, mostly due to higher use of tobacco and alcohol, which are the biggest risk factors for oral cancer. Other infectious diseases, like HPV, can also contribute to oral cancer, as can excessive sun exposure.
This is the second annual screening event. Last year, more than 100 Veterans and staff were screened, and a handful of those screenings identified concerns warranting referrals for further testing.
According to the Oral Cancer Foundation, nearly 58,500 Americans will be diagnosed with oral oropharyngeal cancer this year, leading to more than 12,250 deaths, killing roughly one person per hour.
“While incidence of oral cancer is rising, so too are survival numbers,” Klepper said. “We want to do whatever we can to have an earlier diagnosis, which leads to better treatment outcomes.”
