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Nashville Hygienists Partner with Oral Cancer Foundation to Raise Awareness of a Silent Killer 

For the second year, the Nashville Area Dental Hygienists' Society (NADHS) has organized a successful walk to promote oral cancer awareness for a disease that affects so many, yet so few know about. Hundreds of Nashville locals gathered for the "Boot Scootin' for Oral Cancer Screening II" event that recently took place at Nashville's Centennial Park to raise disease awareness, and funds for the Non-Profit Oral Cancer Foundation (OCF).

The walk was lead by NADHS president Nicki Raines, who encouraged the organization to embrace the cause of oral cancer detection when she began her two-year presidential term. . . .

Dr. Ross Kerr, an oral medicine specialist from New York University, who is an advisor to the foundation, commented on 24 year old survivor ShayLynn Grant. "Most people have a perception that this is a disease of older people who have spent a lifetime using tobacco, and finally develop the disease in their sixth or seventh decade of life. That is no longer completely accurate. With the Human Papilloma Virus #16 becoming an increasing cause of the disease, young non-smokers are the fastest growing segment of the oral cancer population." OCF operations manager, Megan Cannon added, "Oral Cancer is not a rare disease. It kills one person every hour of everyday in the US, and 100 new cases of oral cancer will be diagnosed each day. These are staggering statistics, making these events so important, as awareness of the disease and its risk factors in the US population is so low.

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