I do an oral cancer screening on all patients, and usually end up doing about 1 biopsy a month. I use magnification glasses, and it only takes about 20 seconds- I know what to look for!  This month I did 3 biopsies, and that motivated me to write this blog post on oral cancer exams.  Two were benign fibromas, and the other was a papiloma (HPV) showing mild to moderate dysplasia. I removed this fibroma on the inside of the patient’s lower lip because he kept biting it and it was annoying and bothering him.

The papilloma virus patient  had no idea the lesion was there. This lesion was way back on his soft palate and I didn’t even see it until I held his tongue down to check his throat. This papilloma was showing mild to moderate dysplastic changes and could have turned into oral cancer.