{"id":76,"date":"2013-10-12T23:59:18","date_gmt":"2013-10-12T23:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/?p=76"},"modified":"2022-08-11T11:10:18","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T16:10:18","slug":"beating-a-rare-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2013\/10\/12\/beating-a-rare-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Beating a Rare Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Melanoma\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skincancer.org\/skin-cancer-information\/melanoma\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Melanoma<\/a>\u00a0is a form of cancer. One that we associate with skin. What is unknown by most is that it\u2019s an affliction that can invade other parts of the body.<\/p>\n<p>A healthy 45 year old Chinese man became worried when he noticed discoloration of his gums. We\u2019re not talking about them being a deep red, or pale, or swollen. They had turned black. He knew he had to seek professional help.<\/p>\n<p>Besides the black color, he\u2019d felt no pain. The area of gums that had blackened measured around half an inch by an inch and a half. Doctors informed him that he was suffering from an extremely rare form of melanoma.<\/p>\n<h2>A Rare Cancer<\/h2>\n<p>The ailment: <a title=\"Mucosal Melanoma\" href=\"https:\/\/melanoma.org\/patients-caregivers\/mucosal-melanoma-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">mucosal melanoma<\/a>. It\u2019s an extremely a rare form of melanoma. Only 5% of cases belong to this strain of the disease. Unlike the common misconception that melanoma affects only the outer skin, it can infect all <a title=\"Melanocyte\" href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/science\/melanocyte\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">melanocytes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>These cells produce the pigment <a title=\"Melanin\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news-medical.net\/health\/What-is-Melanin.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">melanin<\/a>. Beyond the epidermis, they cover mucosal surfaces all over the body:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sinuses<\/li>\n<li>Nasal passages<\/li>\n<li>Oral cavity<\/li>\n<li>Middle layer of the eyes<\/li>\n<li>Inner ear<\/li>\n<li>Meninges<\/li>\n<li>even the heart<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Over half of mucosal melanomas start in the head and neck region. From here they spread. All melanocytes are susceptible to becoming cancerous. The usual carcinogenic agent of this cancer is <a title=\"UV Radiation\" href=\"https:\/\/hps.org\/hpspublications\/articles\/uv.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UV radiation<\/a>. Not with mucosal melanoma.<\/p>\n<h2>The Nature of the Beast<\/h2>\n<p>There are no obvious risk factors. Perfectly healthy family history doesn&#8217;t mean you\u2019re exempt. Not to get too technical, but this type of cancer is caused by a mutation in the KIT gene. This then encodes for a protein\u2014CD117. If overexpressed, it can lead to cancer.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s troubling\u2014beyond the fact that it\u2019s cancer\u2014is that diagnosis often comes late. Survival rates tend to be low. In fact, the five year survival rates for mucosal melanoma sufferers are around 40%. This is in contrast to cutaneous melanoma rates of over 90%.<\/p>\n<p>The number reported cases is low. According to Cancer Research UK only 120-130 cases are diagnosed each year in Great Britain. That\u2019s out of a population 63 million.<\/p>\n<p>But there is good news. In this case, the patient was quite lucky. As soon as doctors discovered the man&#8217;s black gums were a result of cancer, they removed the afflicted parts of the gum. In follow ups, it was revealed the cancer hadn&#8217;t spread nor reappeared.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/dr.potts_.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-68\" src=\"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/dr.potts_-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"dr.potts\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>Dr. Potts is a gentle, caring dentist who uses the most advanced materials and procedures available. He practices comfortable, health-centered dentistry, with a strong emphasis on getting to know each patient. In addition to his technical proficiency, Dr. Potts is a careful listener. He \u00a0makes sure to understand what you want and will explain beforehand what treatment is best for your individual needs, along with all options available to you.\u00a0Check out our <a title=\"Dr. Potts Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrDavidPotts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>, <a title=\"Lake County Dental Care\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LakeCountyDentalCare\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook page<\/a>, and <a title=\"Libertyville Dentist\" href=\"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Melanoma\u00a0is a form of cancer. One that we associate with skin. What is unknown by most is that it\u2019s an affliction that can invade other parts of the body. A healthy 45 year old Chinese man became worried when he noticed discoloration of his gums. We\u2019re not talking about them being a deep red, or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[32,10,31,16,17,33,34,37,35,39,38,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-76","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-dentistry","7":"category-health","8":"tag-cancer","9":"tag-dr-potts","10":"tag-lake-country-dental","11":"tag-libertyville","12":"tag-libertyville-dentist","13":"tag-melanoma","14":"tag-mucosal","15":"tag-radiation","16":"tag-rare","17":"tag-skin-cancer","18":"tag-ultraviolet","19":"tag-uv","20":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Beating a Rare Cancer - Plotting with Dr. Potts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2013\/10\/12\/beating-a-rare-cancer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beating a Rare Cancer - Plotting with Dr. Potts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Melanoma\u00a0is a form of cancer. One that we associate with skin. What is unknown by most is that it\u2019s an affliction that can invade other parts of the body. A healthy 45 year old Chinese man became worried when he noticed discoloration of his gums. We\u2019re not talking about them being a deep red, or [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2013\/10\/12\/beating-a-rare-cancer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Plotting with Dr. Potts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-12T23:59:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-11T16:10:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/dr.potts_-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lake County Dental Care\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lake County Dental Care\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Beating a Rare Cancer - Plotting with Dr. Potts","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2013\/10\/12\/beating-a-rare-cancer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Beating a Rare Cancer - Plotting with Dr. Potts","og_description":"Melanoma\u00a0is a form of cancer. One that we associate with skin. What is unknown by most is that it\u2019s an affliction that can invade other parts of the body. A healthy 45 year old Chinese man became worried when he noticed discoloration of his gums. We\u2019re not talking about them being a deep red, or [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2013\/10\/12\/beating-a-rare-cancer\/","og_site_name":"Plotting with Dr. Potts","article_published_time":"2013-10-12T23:59:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-11T16:10:18+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/dr.potts_-150x150.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Lake County Dental Care","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lake County Dental Care","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2013\/10\/12\/beating-a-rare-cancer\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2013\/10\/12\/beating-a-rare-cancer\/"},"author":{"name":"Lake County Dental Care","@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/#\/schema\/person\/0ecc43fd67ddfab999695d7fff11b5b5"},"headline":"Beating a Rare Cancer","datePublished":"2013-10-12T23:59:18+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-11T16:10:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2013\/10\/12\/beating-a-rare-cancer\/"},"wordCount":483,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2013\/10\/12\/beating-a-rare-cancer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/dr.potts_-150x150.jpg","keywords":["cancer","Dr. Potts","lake country dental","libertyville","libertyville dentist","melanoma","mucosal","radiation","rare","skin cancer","ultraviolet","UV"],"articleSection":["Dentistry","Healthy Living"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2013\/10\/12\/beating-a-rare-cancer\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2013\/10\/12\/beating-a-rare-cancer\/","url":"https:\/\/libertyvilledentist.com\/PlottingwithPotts\/2013\/10\/12\/beating-a-rare-cancer\/","name":"Beating a Rare Cancer - 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