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Hello everyone. I am Maria Mohammed.

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She her pronouns with
Becker's Hospital Review.

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Thank you so much for tuning in to the
Becker's Healthcare podcast series.

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Today I am pleased to
be joined by Misty Ling,

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senior Vice President and Chief Dental
Hygiene Officer at Sage Dental. Misty,

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thank you so much for joining
us today. How are you?

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Doing good. Doing good. Excited.

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Yes. Yes. Um, and with that we can
dive right into our discussion today.

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Um, Misty first,

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could you please tell us a bit about
your dental background and also what your

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job entails with Sage Dental?

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Yeah, well, I think I
have the coolest job ever.

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I get to lead an amazing
team of hygienists,

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dental professionals, um,

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at Sage and really get
to impact, you know,

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the care of patients across over
a hundred locations and really,

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you know, create the education.
Um, all of, you know,

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our training, uh, product
selection, mentoring.

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Um, I really get to do a lot
of, um, different things.

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And then also I get to lead a team
of regional hygiene trainers, uh,

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as well, and they get out and
they work with the hygienists, um,

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individually in their locations
and help them with anything.

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It's just a really cool concept
that we have here at sage. You know,

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we really help support everybody in
the field and really want them to be

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successful and provide the
best care to our patients,

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and that's what I get to do. I get
to lead that department here at Sage.

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So it's an honor and
really proud of what we,

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we have done and created here at Sage,

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and I'm really proud of the
care that our patients get.

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Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
That all sounds amazing,

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and with all your experience,

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the first question I wanted to ask you
is what current trends have you been

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seeing in the dental industry
that focus on oral cancer?

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Well, you know, lots of things are
happening in the dental industry,

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especially with artificial
intelligence and things like that,

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just really being more focused
on preventative care, right?

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I think all of us in the
healthcare model, right,

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we're really trying to prevent disease.

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And so what we've really seen is really
these different technologies that are

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coming out that help
identify oral lesions at

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their earliest sites, right? Because
traditionally as a clinician,

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I don't really see oral cancer until
it's an actual lesion, usually,

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right? Um, when it's a carcinoma,

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because that's when you see
it, catch it with the eye.

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But what things like
bell scope do or oral id,

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um, you know, you know,

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what they allow you to do is identify
those lesions before the clinician can

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see it and or even the patient because
it's really identifies those cell

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changes.

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And it does it a really cool way that's
even very simple for you, a patient,

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um,

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a clinician to see is it identifies
it out as dark underneath the light.

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And so it really lets you know that those
cells are rapidly reproducing faster

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than normal. And so that goes, Hey, that's
something we need to get checked out.

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And the good thing is not all of 'em
turn to be like real big time cancer

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situations. Some of them
are just, maybe they have a,

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a tissue issue or, um,
you know, lichen plans or,

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you know, they, maybe they're cheek
biters. So having that evaluation orally,

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um, at least yearly is very
important. And then, you know,

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really that trend is really
been seeing the technology

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to be able to find it earlier, um,

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because that's a real thing with
oral cancer is in order to really be

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successful. And I'm,

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I'm excited to talk about some of the
stats that have changed in this area. Um,

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but to really be successful,
you have to catch it early,

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and that's to save lives. I mean,

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it's really saving lives here
because the thing with oral cancer is

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used to, you had a 50% chance of being
alive in five years once they saw it.

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And it's a staggering statistic.

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Yes. Yes, it absolutely is.

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And I'm glad that you mentioned that you
have to catch it early with this type

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of cancer. And,

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because the next thing I wanted to ask
you is for me and for our listeners,

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do you have any helpful advice
on preventing oral cancer?

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Well, yeah. There's things like, um,
you know, stop using tobacco, you know,

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or I say, don't even start, right.
That's the best thing. You know,

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drink alcohol and moderation. I'm one
of those. Anything in excess is bad,

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right? So alcohol really irritates
the cells and the mouth. Um,

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it makes them more vulnerable
to, you know, mouth cancer. Um,

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avoid excessive sun exposure, you
know, especially for the lips.

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That's definitely an area or another
area that I often see in the dental chair

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that people don't even ever realize
is the tops of the years. Um,

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I myself clinically had a basal cell
carcinoma that I found on a patient

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that I literally was just, you
know, doing my head neck assessment,

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um, which I traditionally do
part of my dental exam. Um,

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and so I literally was just checking
out his ears and kind of filling his

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nodule, you know, around his glands,

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and I was like, wow, like we need to get
that checked out. And sure enough it,

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it didn't turn into something.
So it's really even that as well.

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Make sure you see your
dentist regularly, um,

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at least once a year you should have,

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even if you're not using advanced
technology, dental professionals, um,

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and patients should be doing an exam.
You know, patients should do self-exams.

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That I think those are,

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there are really some key
things as far as helping prevent

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oral cancer. And then the other thing
that a lot of people forget about, and,

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and it really, it has to do with, um, hpv,

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HPV V now is the leading cause
of oral cancer. So used to,

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we used to think, oh, you know, it's
all about risk factors, right? Um,

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you know, they either drink or they
use tobacco and things like that.

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But what we're seeing really with
oral cancer now is that it's not

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just that, you know, that person who's
been a smoker and a drinker for 30 years,

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right? We're seeing it in young
individuals and that has to do with,

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you know, the HPV virus, um,

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which there's lots of things out there
where you can get vaccinated now for

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the H P V, but the issue is,

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is that there's so many
strains of HPV that, you know,

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that's the bigger issue. So when you
vaccinate, vaccinate for all 300,

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so they're, they just kind of do
for the main ones. So, you know,

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the main thing is being mindful and being
sure that you're getting evaluated and

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checked out by your dentist
because with HPV it is viral.

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And so then that virus causes oral cancer.

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It's one of the leading causes
of oral cancer today and 18 to

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35 year olds. So, and I
honestly, we had a, uh,

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I used to work at another dental
office, another practice, um,

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and we had a patient that was 18
years old that ended up with, uh,

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leash just past where they had
their wisdom teeth extracted. Um,

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that was an oral cancer and
she had to have that removed.

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So really honestly and
truly anybody 18 and older,

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we should be looking and
checking to make sure.

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And because of HPV and how common it is,

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they now say like 80 to
85% of the population

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has, um, an HPV virus,
especially in our older,

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like in my age group, um,
and older baby boomers,

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we all, they say that we, a
lot of us are carriers of it.

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We don't even realize it. Um,

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and so that's really something that
we wanna make sure that, you know,

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your senior dentists regularly,

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your hygienists and dentists are
checking you out to make sure that

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you don't have any lesion
there. And like I said,

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and I would hope too that they're
using advanced technology, um,

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as well to help them identify
those lesions earlier.

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Yes. While you gave some amazing advice
and amazing tips Justin, then, um,

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I definitely learned a lot because my
expertise on oral cancer is not alive,

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but thank you so much for
that <laugh>. Um, and also,

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do you have any tips you can provide
that practices should utilize in their

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screenings?

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Well, I mean, I think
utilizing advanced technology,

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first off talking with your patients
because so many patients don't even

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realize we've done a really
good job in the community to

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educate women on, you know,

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getting their annual pap smears
and things like that. Um,

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prostate exams for men. But
we, as a dental community,

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I think one of the things we
have not done as well, um,

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and that educate our patients about
oral cancer and the statistics around it

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to ensure and use that advanced
technology in the offices.

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Because right now, you know,

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the estimated new cases in
the United States this year

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is 54,540 is what they anticipate, um,

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will be new with oral cancer cases.

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And they an estimate that
there'll be 11,580 deaths,

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uh, just from oral cancer this year.
When you put that in perspective,

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that's one person dies every hour from
oral cancer in the United States and

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that's really crazy. And then at
that a five year survival rate,

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and this is what I wanna say,
that I am proud because the use,

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and I wanna say kudos to
the dental offices out there
that are doing oral cancer

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screenings, you know, at least
once a year on your patients,

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because this is so impressive.

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I'm so proud to say that
we've increased this.

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The five year survival rate
for oral cancer used to be, um,

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I would say two years ago,

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50% chance of being alive
in five years, right?

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50% chance of being alive in five years
if you're diagnosed with oral cancer.

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But we've done a great job and we've
increased that survival rate to 68.5,

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right? And I'm very proud of that.

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And so thank you to everybody who does
oral cancer screenings with your patients

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and educate them on this
deadly disease because I mean,

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68.5, 18.5% increase.

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It's not like a hundred percent, it's
not, you know, where I want it to be,

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but I know that we can,

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if we all focus in on it and talk with
our patients and educate them on because

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it's a big impact, you know, um,
that we can make. And like I say,

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I tell my team all the time, guys,

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what we do for our patients
is bigger than us, um,

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because our patients go out and they
have loved ones and they have, you know,

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um, others that look up to 'em, they're
a family member. And so it's, for me,

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it really is saving that life and
it starts with that oral cancer

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screening. So like kudos to all of you.

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I think that's a big win for dentistry
to see this increase and stick win for,

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for medicine. Um, I think the
other thing is that, you know,

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because oral cancer has been one of
those cancers that we haven't seen a

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decrease in, um, for the last
20 years. So that being said,

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I think more people have just been
like, Hey, let's start looking for it.

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And then there's been lots of key players
out there and a and a lot of education

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out there on educating patients on
doing self-exams just like they did

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for breast cancer. So now, you know,

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we want patients to do a self-exam,

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oral exam and that will also help.

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So educating our patients
as professionals, you know,

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in our practices on why they
need oral cancer screenings,

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doing the exams, you know,

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educating 'em on how to do self-exams
and using the best tech advanced

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technology would be the things that
I would say that would really help a

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practice, um, as far as getting more
screens and doing that in the practices.

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Yes. Thank you so much for that insight.

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Those were staggering statistics that
you shared. Uh, and before I let you go,

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do you have any closing
thoughts for our listeners?

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Well, like I said, I just, I am

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so proud to be at Sage
where I can, you know,

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we utilize advanced
technology, we're saving lives,

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we're looking for oral cancer, we
wanna impact change in this industry.

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You know,

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a few years ago there was an article
written that said only 25% of dental

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professionals look for oral cancer.

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So that's why I'm gonna tell
you that that statistic,

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I'm so proud of that increase.

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And I just wanna say keep doing that
to everybody who's listening. You know,

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be sure that in your practices that
you're looking for oral cancer, you know,

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check out the different technologies
that are out there that'll help this with

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your patients. You know,

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we have a real ability to
impact change in our industry

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to impact change in the healthcare
of those that we serve, um,

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and those that we love.

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And so I think it's really important
that we talk about oral cancer,

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we talk about, you know, HPV virus, um,

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we stay educated
ourselves as professionals

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and we raise that bar, you know,

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as healthcare providers and
continue to just push forward and

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look for, continue to look for oral cancer
cuz we can really have a big impact.

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And it just really begins with
looking and talking about it.

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And I'm just so excited about
Oral Cancer Month and what

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we are doing at Sage. You know, we make
it really fun for our patients. Um,

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that's another thing that you could do
as well. Um, we get stickers that says,

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you know, I got screened. Um, you know,

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you go get your old cancer screening,
you know, kinda like when you go vote.

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We do that. We take selfies
with their patients.

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We really just wanna really
highlight it and make it fun. Um, so,

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so people take the time and just stop
for a second and ensure that their loved

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ones are all getting oral
cancer screenings. Cause um,
we save one life. I mean,

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I tell you what, it changes my perspective
on life. And so I'm just really,

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really proud of what we're doing and
the impact that all of our providers are

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doing and all of you out there. So
that's really it for me. Like I said,

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I'm super excited about Oral Cancer Month
and the new stats that are coming out

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and about it because more people are
looking and so I'm just so proud that I

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get to, to lead,

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be a leader in this industry and
help encourage more to do so.

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Yes, absolutely.

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That all sounds so amazing and thank
you so much for your final thoughts.

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Um, and thank you so much for
joining us on the podcast today.

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It has been a pleasure speaking with you.

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And I'd also like to thank our
podcast sponsor Sage Dental.

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You can tune into more podcasts from
Becker's Healthcare by visiting our

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podcastPage@beckerpodcast.com.
Thank you again, Misty.

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Thank you.