Dental Hygienist: A Case Study

Over ten years ago, I met two patients who forever changed the way I viewed my role as a practicing dental hygienist. I greeted the first, a 34 year-old male patient, and escorted him to my operatory. He looked different from most patients, as he wore a medical mask covering his mouth. Surprisingly, I noticed he could not speak, communicating only by using a dry eraser board. On his board, he wrote that he only had six months to live and wanted a tooth pulled so he could be out of pain. As he removed the medical mask from his face, I saw a large tumor that displaced several teeth on the inside of his mouth. The tumor was very disfiguring, and he was clearly in pain. I knew I was staring at oral cancer in the face. Ultimately, the dentist came in and the patient received palliative care that day. But, I never saw him again.

This was the first time I had ever seen this patient. As I performed an extra oral exam, I noticed that she was missing the under part of her left jaw, as well as the side of her neck. I inquired about this abnormality, and she confirmed she had oral cancer that resulted in part of her neck being removed, but it was now in remission. Unlike the young man, her oral cancer was in the back of the throat where it was not visually observable. She also stated that doctors did not detect the oral cancer early, but only when she became symptomatic and further tests confirmed her diagnosis. She emphasized she had never smoked a day in her life, but she had worked as a bartender when smoking was allowed in bars. Luckily, I did see this patient again in subsequent