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ORAL CANCER SCREENING: IT'S MORE THAN GRASPING THE TONGUE - PART II - Buffalo Dental Show

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8

Apr

ORAL CANCER SCREENING: IT’S MORE THAN GRASPING THE TONGUE – PART II

by

Thurs., Nov. 6, 2025
1:00pm – 4:00pm (3 CE hrs) / Lecture
Room 106-A
Speaker: Susan Cotten, BSDH, RDH, OMT

This course is supported, in part, by educational grants from AdDent-BioScreen, BioGaia, Crown Seating, and Q-Optics.

Recommended for: Dentists, Hygienists, and Students

Part Two shifts from knowledge to practice. Utilizing Susan’s instructional screening videos and case presentations, this course unpacks each component of a comprehensive head and neck, oral, and oropharyngeal evaluation. This includes proper clinician and patient positioning for optimal visualization, effective palpation techniques, and a complete thyroid assessment. Leveraging Susan’s training as a Myofunctional Therapist, attendees will learn Tonsil Grade and Mallampati Score recognition and documentation, and the role in oropharyngeal evaluation. We will get hands-on with extraoral palpation – an area where many clinicians seek greater confidence.

Attendees will leave with actionable tools, elevated confidence, and a clear framework to implement comprehensive screenings and thorough documentation.

Learning objectives:

  • List components of a comprehensive extraoral and intraoral evaluation.
  • Identify Tonsil Grade, Mallampati Score, and why these are important in screening.
  • Discuss thorough documentation.
  • Name the anatomical structures examined in the oropharyngeal evaluation.
  • Review potential areas of liability for dental professionals in oral cancer.

At the conclusion of this program, there will be a drawing for an ergonomic Crown Seating Saddle Chair!

Susan Cotten, BSDH, RDH, OMT is dentistry’s oral cancer coach, she has performed over 60 thousand oral cancer screenings. There was a time in Susan’s dental hygiene career when she knew very little about oral cancer and was neither confident nor thorough when performing an oral cancer screening. Two events in the same week in 2010, a heartbreaking conversation with her favorite patient – an HPV oropharyngeal cancer survivor, and being selected for Donny Osmond’s Make a Difference program, which acted as catalysts for her passion and deep dive into oral cancer and HPV. Susan expanded her knowledge in oral cancer and skills in screening, working with mentors – ENTs and Head and Neck surgeons.

Susan is a 1994 graduate of the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine Dept. of Dental Hygiene, the founder and CEO of Oral Cancer Free and Oral Cancer Consulting and developed The Cotten Method of screening. She is a 2018 RDH Sunstar Award of Distinction recipient, an RDH Magazine editorial board member, RDH Advisory Board member at the Oral Cancer Foundation, and an instructor at National Network of Healthcare Hygienists. Susan has organized countless free oral cancer screening events, including the Denver Broncos Health and Wellness Expo. She works with dental professionals who want more confidence in screening, to reduce the risk of liability, and increase early detection. On a personal note, she loves walking the beaches of Hawaii, watching college football, and is a former country dance competitor.

Ms. Cotten (or an immediate family member) has a significant relationship with the following commercial organizations whose products she will refer to in her presentation: Curaden, Crown Seating, Q-Optics, and AdDent-BioScreen.

 

The University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine, Office of Alumni Relations and Professional Engagement designates this activity for 3 continuing education credits.

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