Role of Computational Biology in Oral Science

Abstract

DNA sequence Cigarette Smoking, Betel leaf chewing, and alcohol consumption are major cause of oral cancer in Asia. The difficulty in quitting, coupled with patients’ economic conditions affects the inability to get diagnosed early, driving death rate higher. There has been major advancement in molecular sciences, computational biology, and other fields today, but we are not still able to pinpoint the causes of oral cancer, also known as Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC). Early detection leads to better survival rate, therefore, education on yearly check-ups plays a vital role. Computational analysis at the genomic (DNA sequence) can help patients with targeted cellular treatment and hopefully a cure. In this paper, we would look at computation tools used in detecting OSCC and various analysis. Analysis includes detecting abnormality in the cell and other molecular reactions which later morph into a cancerous cell. Later, we investigate all computational tools or techniques from local and global sequence alignment, protein structure, gene, functional structure analysis which help medical staff detect cancer, which in turn can help with oral cancer treatment, prognosis and hopefully a cure.