Oral cancers on the rise in women due to oral sex —Expert

AN expert in cancers of the mouth cavity, Professor Juwon Arotiba has said the incidence of squamous oral cancer, a type of skin cancer in women, is on the increase due to women imbibing Western lifestyle, including oral sex.

Professor Arotiba, a consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon, spoke at a valedictory lecture entitled ‘Orofacial tumour surgery in Nigeria; The surgeon on a rescue mission. It was held in honour of Dr (Mrs) Patience Sotunmbi, which took place at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

Arotiba stated that aside from the increasing use of alcohol and tobacco by women, human papillomavirus,  a virus that causes cervical cancer, also gets into the mouth to cause cancer in the mouth.

He listed other factors that predispose to cancers to include obesity, exposure to radiation, nutritional deficiencies like lack of vitamins and iron, occupational hazards and working in leather and asbestos making industry.

Professor Atotiba, however, declared that squamous oral cancer accounts for about 80 per cent of all cancers in the mouth cavity and tends to occur earlier in Africans compared to whites.

He added that although the burden of oral cancer is more in Africans than the white people, the common sites for this cancer in Africans is slightly different from that recorded in Western countries.

Professor Arotiba, however, assured that not all growths in the mouth cavity are cancer, adding that 61 per cent of these growths are benign while about 30per cent are cancerous.

He said that surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are primary treatments for oral cancer, declaring that treatment options will vary with the type of cancer and the extent of the disease.

Professor Arotiba said that late diagnosis of these cancers and the fact that the airway shares boundaries with vital organs such as major blood vessels of the neck were some challenges in the management of these cancers.

Professor Benjamin Bolaji, a consultant anaesthetist, at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin,  declared that Dr Sotunmbi had contributed immensely to rescuing patients with tumours because the airway management could be a challenge during surgical operation on these cancers.

Head, Department of Anaesthesia, UCH, Dr Olayinka Eyelade said Dr Sotunmbi had an ‘I can do spirit’ and  was not afraid to take up complicated cases.

According to her, “her slogan is ‘keep the patient alive, no matter the case’, and this she had taken to her environment by teaching everyone resuscitation skills.”