Dentists do oral cancer screenings to identify signs of cancer or precancerous conditions. Your dentist will check for oral cancer during routine dental visits and may run additional tests to identify abnormal cells, if needed.

You should consider getting screened for oral cancer to detect mouth cancer or precancerous lesions at an early stage—when cancer or lesions are the easiest to remove and likely to be cured. Those at high risk of oral cancer, are smokers, heavy drinkers, and those with a history of throat and oral cancer. A high rate of patients with mouth and throat cancer has been linked to HPV (sexually transmitted infection human papillomavirus). But even if you don't carry these risks a lot or at all, it's still best to have an oral cancer screening to be on the safe side.