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The ADA Oral Cancer Summit by Dr. Seth Gibree

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Categories: Oral Pathology, Pharmacology, and Cariology;
The ADA Oral Cancer Summit 

A dentist’s perspective on collaboration, innovation and the future of patient care

by Dr. Seth Gibree

The American Dental Association’s (ADA) Oral Cancer Summit, held in Chicago on February 19, 2025, brought together leaders across dentistry, medicine, academia and innovation to address the urgent need for earlier detection and prevention of oral cancer. The summit’s central themes: interdisciplinary collaboration, proactive patient education and the integration of cutting-edge tools. Dentists are uniquely positioned to lead in early detection and prevention. Progress hinges not only in adopting new technologies, but in uniting the health care community to implement them responsibly.

For clinicians dedicated to improving patient outcomes, the summit offered a wealth of insights into how collaboration between dentists and physicians, increased awareness, research, and innovation can transform our approach to this slow-moving yet deadly disease. It also reinforced the vital role of regular screening and early detection.

A collaborative frontier: Dentists and physicians unite
The summit’s core message was clear: Oral health is inseparable from overall health, and tackling oral cancer requires a united front between dentistry and medicine. “Achieving optimal health for our patients is a collaborative, interdisciplinary effort,” said ADA president Dr. Brett Kessler.

Imagine a near-future clinical scenario where a clinician, following screening guidelines, identifies a mucosal lesion during a routine exam. Instead of waiting on referrals, the clinician performs a rapid and accurate chairside point-of-care test to determine the next step in treatment. This isn’t just theoretical—it’s a shift in clinical practice that may save lives one day soon.

Every exam and interaction is crucial to a patient’s overall health and an opportunity for early detection. Summit panels emphasized that physicians can contribute systemic health insights, like HPV history or cardiovascular risks, while dentists can serve as the first line of defense through routine oral screenings.

Raising awareness: A dentist’s duty
Awareness was another pillar of the summit, one that’s actionable in daily practice. The ADA has long sounded the alarm on the rising rates of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer. At the summit, awareness discussions focused on known risk factors like tobacco use and excessive alcohol consumption. Dr. Parul Dua Makkar’s story about her brother, Dr. Manu Dua, a fellow Townie who died from oral cancer despite lacking traditional risk factors, served as a powerful reminder that cancer can touch anyone.

The summit urged education as a dual mission: informing patients and equipping professionals. For patients, this means integrating consistent, proactive conversations about prevention into their visits. Professionally, it’s a renewed call to ensure oral cancer screenings are non-negotiable in our workflows.

Innovation at the forefront: Salivary testing and beyond
Among the most compelling takeaways from the summit was the emphasis on innovation, particularly the emergence of saliva-based technologies that have the potential to transform how we screen for disease and deliver care. Effective screening tools, while not intended to replace diagnostic tests, allow us to risk-stratify patients and intervene earlier, often at a more treatable stage.

Saliva, as a diagnostic medium, offers a non-invasive and easily collected sample, making it ideal for point-of-care applications in dental settings. Recent advances have sparked a surge in salivary diagnostics. These tools may soon enable clinicians to obtain real-time insights, eliminating the need to wait for traditional samples like blood or tissue.

Imagine a future where, during a routine dental visit, a clinician performs a simple salivary test that not only screens for oral cancer but also detects markers associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, autoimmune conditions, and even Alzheimer’s. This vision highlights both the broad utility of saliva-based screening platforms and the undeniable link between oral and systemic health.

Rigorous validation is still needed to ensure these technologies deliver sufficient test accuracy for everyday clinical use. A landmark study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association found the top 30 most frequent oral lesions accounted for 93% of all observed lesions, yet oral carcinoma ranked 24th in prevalence.

These findings reflect the diagnostic complexity clinicians face. As we evaluate new salivary tests, we must ask: How well do they distinguish between these 30 common lesions? What is the overlap between benign lesions and early malignancies? Could coexisting lesions skew test accuracy?

Answering these questions will require high-quality validation studies that follow the National Cancer Institute’s PRoBE standards. Only then can we fully understand the clinical utility of these exciting advances and responsibly bring them into daily practice.

The dentist’s role: Frontline guardians
The summit underscored that dentists are uniquely positioned to lead in oral cancer detection. We see patients regularly, enabling us to identify abnormalities early. A lesion caught early can mean the difference between a simple excision and a grueling battle with advanced cancer. “Prevention and early detection are critical to long term health and even saving lives,” according to summit speaker, oral and maxillofacial surgery pathologist Dr. Mark Lingen.

The summit reaffirmed that our role extends far beyond oral health maintenance. It’s about integrating new tools to boost diagnostic accuracy and efficiency. Our responsibility begins with education, continues through innovation and ends with lives saved. We must lean in, stay curious and take action.

As dental professionals, we have a unique opportunity and responsibility to lead the charge in raising awareness about oral cancer and promoting proactive behaviors among our patients. One of the most powerful things we can teach them to do is to regularly perform a simple at-home oral cancer self-exam using a mirror and flashlight. This simple act has the potential to save lives through earlier diagnosis and intervention.

While at-home self-exams are a vital first step, the broader future of oral cancer lies in combining technology with awareness. It’s not just about adopting new technologies—it’s about ensuring those technologies serve our patients with accuracy, consistency and compassion.

Impact on patient care
Also exciting are the broader health insights these tools can potentially provide. Catching signs of systemic disease early—such as Alzheimer’s or diabetes—expands our role in ways I never imagined when I graduated dental school nearly 25 years ago.

Future dental visits could include salivary testing as part of routine exams, AI-based imaging aids used to review results and real-time coordination with primary care providers for customized patient care.

It’s about building trust, showing patients that we’re not just dentists, we’re their health partners.

Innovation brings challenges. The summit addressed concerns around validation, FDA approval, and ensuring tests offer sufficient specificity and sensitivity. Cybersecurity and data privacy, particularly with cloud-based salivary diagnostics, will require intentional safeguards and clear protocols to protect patient information.

Yet the spirit of collaboration at the summit left me optimistic. With the ADA’s leadership and the shared commitment of dental, medical and scientific communities, these hurdles feel surmountable. We’re moving from reaction to prevention, and that shift could save countless lives.

Conclusion: A call to action
The ADA Oral Cancer Summit was much more than a conference. It was a road map for reshaping patient care with collaboration, awareness and innovation. As a dentist, I’m committed to bringing these insights into daily practice, from enhancing patient education to embracing validated screening tools.

The five-year survival rate for oral cancer remains daunting, but together, we can change that.

To my fellow dentists: We are the frontline guardians in this fight. By embracing innovation and applying our clinical expertise, we can save lives, lower costs and raise the standard of care. The summit wasn’t just about today—it was about a future where oral cancer’s impact is reduced, one patient at a time. Let’s lead the way. 

References
Burger, D. April marks Oral Cancer Awareness Month, with HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer on the increase. Retrieved from ada.org.
Dua Makkar, P. (2021). Life Interrupted: Dr. Manu Dua’s Journey with Oral Cancer. Indie Books International.
Versaci, M. ADA summit convenes dentists, physicians to collaborate in fight against oral cancer. Retrieved from ada.org.
Boquet, M. (1986). Lesions of the oral mucosa: A 23,616-patient screening. Journal of the American Dental Association.
National Cancer Institute. (2007). The PRoBE Study Design Framework. Retrieved from prevention.cancer.gov.

Author Bio
Author Seth Gibree, DMD, FAGD, is the senior director of Clinical AI and Innovation at Heartland Dental. He is a published author, key opinion leader and industry expert with more than 25 years of experience. Gibree approaches each day with a focus on making dentistry better for clinicians and patients primarily around artificial intelligence/machine learning, innovation, clinical excellence and strategic planning. Before joining the Heartland Dental support network, he established and owned multiple multidisciplinary dental practices in Georgia. Gibree has served on the Dentaltown editorial advisory board since 2009.
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