Understanding and managing your personal risk factors for oral and throat cancer

As your dental healthcare provider, our primary objectives are to maintain your quality of life and to ensure your safety.

  • Prevalence: According to the American Cancer Society, the prevalence of oral cancers is expected to dramatically increase by nearly two-thirds by 2035.
  • Risk factors: Even though age (over 50 years old), tobacco use, alcohol consumption and HPV are major risk factors according to the American Cancer Society and others, there has been increasing evidence to suggest that some who did not experience these considerations are also affected.
  • Questionnaire: Based on these risk factors, and understanding the importance of early screening, this website is a first of its kind AI-driven questionnaire (coupled with the best available epidemiological data) to assess your personal risk level as compared to the general population.
  • Recommendation: From the risk level determined by this questionnaire, we will determine if a more precise molecular analysis with the CancerDetect saliva test is recommended.
  • Education: In addition, please note that the site also serves as an excellent source for patient education, which includes an AI chatbot to answer your personal questions.
  • Privacy & confidentiality: No identifiable information about you is collected in this screening assessment and your dentist does not receive any compensation.

We view this as a major public healthcare initiative and the current data suggests that a few minutes can save your life!

Oral and Throat Cancer Questionnaire
Please complete the assessment below
Click on the text between [] for more information on each question
Please note: The purpose of this assessment is to calculate your personal quantitative risk level and compare it to the general population, where the prevalence of oral and throat cancers is approximately 1 in 1000 people.

Frequently Asked Questions

Legal disclaimer

The information in this website is a best effort as a public health initiative based on available literature and relevant epidemiological data. This is not intended to be comprehensive. Specifically, a determination of a lower quantitative risk level according to this website does not preclude the presence of other unknown risk factors. A recommendation of salivary molecular testing is intended for further detection of biomarkers and potential follow-up. Use of the information and recommendations in this website are at the discretion of individuals, and the creators bear no responsibility for misuse.

References
  1. 1. Banavar, G., Ogundijo, O., Julian, C., Toma, R., Camacho, F., Torres, P.J., Hu, L., Chandra, T., Piscitello, A., Kenny, L. and Vasani, S., 2023. Detecting salivary host and microbiome RNA signature for aiding diagnosis of oral and throat cancer. Oral Oncology, 145, p.106480.
  2. 2. National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program; 2021. Cancer Stat Facts: Oral Cavity and Pharynx Cancer.
  3. 3. ACS, 2024. Key Statistics for Oral Cavity and Oropharyngeal Cancers.
  4. 4. CDC, 2022. HPV Fact Sheet.
  5. 5. La Vecchia, C., Franceschi, S., Bosetti, C., Levi, F., Talamini, R. and Negri, E., 1999. Time since stopping smoking and the risk of oral and pharyngeal cancers. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 91(8), pp.726a-728.
  6. 6. Ghasemiesfe, M., Barrow, B., Leonard, S., Keyhani, S. and Korenstein, D., 2019. Association between marijuana use and risk of cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA network open, 2(11), pp.e1916318-e1916318.
  7. 7. US Department of Health and Human Services. 2004. The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health.
  8. 8. Bagnardi, V., Rota, M., Botteri, E., Tramacere, I., Islami, F., Fedirko, V., Scotti, L., Jenab, M., Turati, F., Pasquali, E. and Pelucchi, C., 2015. Alcohol consumption and site-specific cancer risk: a comprehensive dose–response meta-analysis. British journal of cancer, 112(3), pp.580-593.
  9. 9. Chaturvedi, A.K., Udaltsova, N., Engels, E.A., Katzel, J.A., Yanik, E.L., Katki, H.A., Lingen, M.W. and Silverberg, M.J., 2020. Oral leukoplakia and risk of progression to oral cancer: a population-based cohort study. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 112(10), pp.1047-1054.
  10. 10. Gupta, S. and Kaur Jawanda, M., 2015. Oral Lichen Planus: An Update on Etiology, Pathogenesis, Clinical Presentation, Diagnosis and Management. Indian Journal of Dermatology, 60(3): 222–229.
  11. 11. CDC, 2023. HPV and Cancer.
  12. 12. Garavello, W., Foschi, R., Talamini, R., La Vecchia, C., Rossi, M., Dal Maso, L., Tavani, A., Levi, F., Barzan, L., Ramazzotti, V. and Franceschi, S., 2008. Family history and the risk of oral and pharyngeal cancer. International journal of cancer, 122(8), pp.1827-1831.
  13. 13. D’ Souza, G., McNeel, T.S. and Fakhry, C., 2017. Understanding personal risk of oropharyngeal cancer: risk-groups for oncogenic oral HPV infection and oropharyngeal cancer. Annals of Oncology, 28(12), pp.3065-3069.
  14. 14. National Institutes of Health, 2018. Oral cancer incidence (new cases) by age, race, and gender.