CANCER TREATMENT
PROPER CARE OF TEETH ESSENTIAL. ,• GREAT VALUE OF RADIUM. (By The New Zealand Branch of The British Empire Cancer Campaign.) The mouth, including the lips, tongue, the inside of the cheeks, and the floor of the mouth, comes next after the skin as the commonest site for cancer. Just as one can see what- is happening to the skin, cancer of the mouth can readily be felt or actually seen in very early stages. There are few sores in the mouth apart from serious conditions such as cancer that persist for longer than a week or so without getting better. This means that a crack, sore or lump on the lips or in the mouth that remains about the same for several weeks is definitely under suspicion and must be regarded as cancer until proved innocent. In the treatment of mouth cancer, often when small it is possible to remove them easily and safely, sometimes without the patient having to be admitted into a hospital. It is with growths in this site that radium is one of our most valuable weapons. Radium makes it possible to treat growths that have become too large to be removed surgically, and to a large extent has obviated the necessity of operations that would be disfiguring because of the area to be removed. One might ask whether it is possible to prevent the occurrence of such cancers. Unfortunately we do not yet know all about the causes of cancer, but we do know that cancer of the mouth is usually accompanied by a number of easily avoidable conditions that would certainly seem to play a part in the presence of these tumors. Broken and decayed teeth, unhealthy gums, and badly fitting denture plates are so often found in the cancer patient that we are led to believe that the growth would not have occurred but for these sources of chronic irritation. Furthermore some chronic diseases such as anaemia appear to be related to the cause of cancer. We could prevent a lot of cancer of the mouth by keeping . physically fit and taking proper care ' of the teeth.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 January 1943, Page 4
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356CANCER TREATMENT Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 January 1943, Page 4
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