Breast Cancer Diagnosis

This would be really cool if it worked out: scientists are working on a new diagnostic tool for detecting breast cancer in women. It might be possible for dentists to routinely administer a simple test of women’s saliva to screen for breast cancer. The idea is that people go to the dentist more often than they go to the doctor, so the dentists would be likely candidates for administering the test.

I wonder how the dentists feel about this, though. It is one thing to tell someone they need a root canal. It is quite another thing to tell someone they may have cancer. Of course, the sooner any diagnosis is made, the better off the patient is.

If we can save lives by having better diagnostic tools, then I am all for it. Maybe they’ll develop saliva tests for other cancers as well.


breast cancer, dentists, diagnosis, cancer, health, women,