Lynn Erdman - Wed . Apr 26, 2017

Lynn Erdman MN, RN, FAAN is the Chief Executive Officer of AWHONN, the

Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, who’s mission

is to improve and promote the health of women and newborns and to

strengthen the nursing profession. April Marks Oral Cancer Awareness Month:

How Oral Examinations Can Help Save 10,000 Lives. Oral cancer is the sixth

most common cancer globally, and the large majority of oral cancers are in an

advanced stage at the time of detection, leading to approximately 10,000 deaths

per year in the United States. Former U.S. Surgeon General, David Satcher,

once described dental and oral diseases, such as oral cancer, a “silent

epidemic” because oral cancer can be painless and unnoticed by women and

men, making early detection difficult, thus increasing the risk of development of

secondary primary tumors.