OUTLET: Newsplex
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (NEWSPLEX) — The “Where’s the Chair” Campaign
set up on the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville Thursday to provide free oral cancer screenings.
The program is on behalf of the Virginia Dental Association.
The chair goes from city to city to help raise awareness for oral cancer.
More than 42,000 people are diagnosed with the condition each year and statistics show more than 8,000 of them will die from it.
Dentists say taking two minutes to potentially catch the cancer early could save a person’s life.
“Screening is critical,” said Dr. Bill Viglione. “If we find it small, the cure rate is 99 percent, easy when it’s found early. Generally it’s not painful, you hardly know it happens, it happens so slowly and then when it becomes severe, the rate of success is very low.”
The screening exam consists of checking the mouth for bumps, lumps and tumors.
