I started having a mysterious pain in my jaw… it was a hidden sign of cancer, but I ignored it and now it’s too late

An apparently healthy 76-year-old man who suffered from wobbly tooth and jaw pain was devastated to discover that his pain was the result of advanced prostate cancer.

The man visited a dentist who assessed the wobbly lower left premolar and decided that removing the tooth was the best course of action.

But in the weeks after the tooth extraction, the man’s jaw continued to swell.

Worried, the man returned to the dentist for a follow-up appointment, where a CT scan revealed he had a cancerous tumor in his jaw.

The medical report of the patient’s case, published in the Australian Dental JournalFurther tests revealed that the lesion was a secondary tumor, which had spread from his prostate.

“Prostate cancer, like many other cancers, can spread to the jaw,” said Dr. Andrej Bozic, an oral surgeon at Dentum. The sun.

“This is because the jawbone has a rich blood supply and active bone marrow, making it a favorable place for metastatic cancer cells to settle and grow,” he added.

Six-time Olympic gold medalist Sir Chris Hoy explained that his prostate cancer diagnosis in 2023 “came completely out of the blue” and that he only suffered from shoulder pain and sore ribs. A scan revealed that the cyclist had stage four prostate cancer, which had spread to his bones

Metastatic prostate cancer is relatively rare in the jaw, but when it does occur, it is usually a sign that the cancer has spread widely, the case study authors explain.

This also applies if the disease is noticed in other parts of the upper body.

Six-time Olympic gold medalist Sir Chris Hoy announced his diagnosis of advanced prostate cancer late last year, explaining that the only signs of the disease were pain in his shoulder and ribs.

A scan revealed tThe cyclist had stage four prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.

The reporters of the new case emphasized that dentists must remain vigilant if dental problems do not disappear within a few weeks, especially in older patients when the incidence of other diseases, such as cancer, is more common.

Jaw cancer is a rare form of head and neck cancer that usually develops when an oral cancer spreads to the jaw, but it can also spread from other parts of the body.

According to Cancer Research UK, there are around 12,759 new cases of head and neck cancer in Britain every year.

The main symptoms are pain or swelling in the gums and jawbone, loosening of teeth, poor healing of the gums after dental procedures and numbness in the jaw, the charity explains.

But prostate cancer can also spread to bones in other parts of the body.

Cancer research explains that prostate cancer most commonly spreads to the bones, lymph nodes, liver, and lungs.

In the UK, around one in eight men will develop prostate cancer during their lifetime and according to Prostate Cancer UK, more than 12,000 men die from the disease every year.

Needing to urinate more often than normal and especially at night, sudden urination, weak bleeding, blood in the urine and problems maintaining an erection are all signs of prostate cancer.