1.   Although treatment for oral cancer has improved with recent medical advances, there has been no improvement in the long-term survival of those with the disease.

2.   As with superficial skin cancers, before oral cancer becomes a potentially deadly disease, it usually forms precancerous lesions that can be readily seen.

3.   Because Gleevec is an oral cancer therapy, it will not be covered under Medicare.

4.   Because there is no commercially available test for oral cancer, it is usually detected through a physical examination.

5.   About half of all people who develop oral cancer die from it.

6.   But despite notable progress made in curing several of the more hidden cancers, once oral cancer develops, the chances of surviving it have not improved for decades.

7.   But spit tobacco contains about four times as much nicotine as cigarettes and makes its users six times more susceptible to oral cancer.

8.   Columns A dentist and two chemists have developed an inexpensive way to test for oral cancer.

9.   Fifty percent of individuals with oral cancers die, their malignancy having spread before being discovered and treated.

10.   For that reason, everyone should have an oral cancer screening done at least once a year by a dentist or a dental hygienist.