Your dental examination could save your life

17/10/2019

This year in the UK, around 8,300 people will be given the life-changing news that they have mouth cancer, explains Working dentist Kate Prichard from Goldsworth Road Dental Centre.

These numbers continue to rise while the disease claims more lives than cervical and testicular cancer combined.

Beating mouth cancer is dependent on diagnosing it at an early stage. If it is caught early, the chances of surviving the disease are nine out of ten, which is why this is so important.

Incidences of mouth cancer have increased by 49% over the last decade. And some 82% of people do not know how to check for the disease, so it is clear that we need to raise awareness of mouth cancer and encourage everybody to be more vigilant about changes in their mouth.

The signs of mouth cancer

Everybody should be mouth aware and able to recognise the early signs of mouth cancer, which can strike in several places, including the lips, tongue, gums and cheeks.

This is what you should look out for:

– Mouth ulcers that do not heal in 3 weeks.

– Red and white patches in your mouth.

– Unusual lumps or swellings in your mouth or head and neck area.

– Persistent hoarseness in your throat.

Please share this with your friends and loved ones so that they know what to check for too.

Let us put your mind at rest

Every dental health examination we carry out includes a screening for mouth cancer, so don’t be tempted to put off coming to see us regularly, as often as your dentist recommends.

Mouth Cancer Action Month is a charity campaign that aims to tackle the growing cases of mouth cancer. It takes place every November.