A seemingly healthy 76-year-old man who suffered with a wobbly tooth and jaw ache was devastated to find his pain was the result of advanced prostate cancer.
The man visited a dentist who evaluated the wobbly lower left pre-molar and decided removing the tooth was the best course of action.
But in the weeks following the tooth extraction, the man’s jaw continued to swell.
Concerned the man returned to the dentist for a follow-up appointment where a CT scan revealed he had a cancerous lesion in his jaw.
The medical report of the patient’s case, published in the Australian Dental Journal, revealed that further tests confirmed the lesion was a secondary tumour — which had spread from his prostate.
‘Prostate cancer, like many other cancers, can metastasize to the jaw,’ Dr Andrej Bozic, an oral surgeon at Dentum, told The Sun.
‘This is because the jawbone has a rich blood supply and active bone marrow, making it a favourable site for metastatic cancer cells to settle and grow,’ he added.
The case study published in the Australian Dental Journal revealed that after further tests it was confirmed he had metastatic prostate cancer that had spread to his jaw
Sir Chris Hoy , a six-time Olympic gold medalist, explained his prostate cancer diagnosis in 2023 came ‘completely out of the blue’ and that he only suffered with shoulder pain and sore ribs. A scan revealed t he cyclist had stage four prostate cancer that had spread to his bones
Metastatic prostate cancer is relatively rare in the jaw, but when it does occur, it’s usually a sign that the cancer has spread widely, authors of the case study explain.
This is also true if the disease is spotted in other areas of the upper body.
Sir Chris Hoy, six-time Olympic gold medalist, revealed his diagnosis of advanced prostate cancer late last year, explaining that the only signs of the disease had been pain in his shoulder and ribs.
A scan revealed the cyclist had stage four prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.
The reporters of the new case stressed that dentists should remain vigilant when dental problems do not resolve within a feqw weeks, especially in older patients when the incidence of other diseases, such as cancer, is more common.
Jaw cancer is a rare type of head and neck cancer that usually develops when an oral cancer spreads to the jaw, but it can also spread from other parts of the body.
There are around 12,759 new cases of head and neck cancer in the UK each year, according to Cancer Research UK.
The main symptoms include pain or swelling in the gums and jaw bone, loosening of teeth, poor healing of the gums after dental work and numbness in the jaw, the charity explains.
But prostate cancer can also spread to bones in other parts of the body.
Cancer Research explains that prostate cancer most commonly spreads to the bones, lymph nodes, liver and lungs.
In the UK about one in eight men will get prostate cancer in their lifetime and more than 12,000 men die of the disease each year, according to Prostate Cancer UK.
Needing to urinate more often than usual and especially at night, having a sudden need to urinate, a weak flow, blood in the urine and problems keeping an erection are all signs of prostate cancer.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .