Professor Athanasios Poulopoulos

INTRA-ORAL MALIGNANCY : MYTHS AND FACTS. WHAT THE DENTIST MUST BE AWARE.

Cancer of the oral cavity is one of the most common malignancies, especially in developing countries, but also in the developed world. Intraoral malignancy includes squamous cell carcinomas, cancer of the minor salivary glands, lymphomas ,sarcomas, leukemias with intraoral manifestations, melanomas and metastatic tumors. Although early diagnosis is relatively easy, presentation with advanced disease is not uncommon. Despite easy self-examination and physical examination, patients often present with advanced stage disease. Visual inspection and palpation allow an accurate impression of the extent of the disease, the third dimension of tumor, the presence of bone invasion, or skin breakdown. Approximately a third of patients treated relapse, and locoregional recurrence is the most common pattern of failure. Significant histopathologic predictors of outcome include depth of invasion of the primary tumor, positive margins of surgical resection, perineural invasion and major extracapsular nodal extension. Early diagnosis of intra-oral malignancy requires better knowledge of the biological malignant behavior and improved awareness and tools for the effective management.

Professor Athanasios Poulopoulos is the Dean of School of Dentistry Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (2nd term elected), head of the Dept of Oral Medicine & Oral Pathology, Dental School of Thessaloniki and director of the Postgraduate Program of Oral Medicine & Oral Pathology.

Prof. Poulopoulos serves as Vice President of the Hellenic Association of Oral Medicine & Pathology, Secretary General of the Executive Committee of Balkan Stomatological Society (BASS), Regional Representative for Region V of European Association of Oral Medicine (EAOM) and he is member in several other scientific societies such as IADR.

Prof. Poulopoulos has co-authored more than 100 scientific papers, chapters in books and participated with more than 240 oral presentations and posters in many conferences and seminars. He serves as reviewer and member of the editorial board in several scientific journals. His main clinical and research interests involve oral cancer and precancer including immunohistochemical analysis of oral malignancy , salivary gland diseases, systemic diseases with oral manifestations, drug adverse reactions on the oral mucosa.