Irish Dentists to Offer Free Oral Cancer Checks
Dentists across Ireland will offer free oral cancer screening as part of Mouth Cancer Awareness Day, which will take place on the 21st September.
More than 700 dentists will take part in the screening programme to help support the Mouth Cancer Awareness Day campaign, which is designed to raise the profile of mouth cancer and encourage people to attend screening checks.
Dental hospitals in Cork and Dublin will also be offering free five-minute screening appointments and it is hoped that people will take advantage of the offer. Mouth cancer is becoming increasingly common, especially among younger people, but many are still unaware of the symptoms they should be looking out for and as a result of this, many cases are only diagnosed at an advanced stage, when the prognosis is poor.
More than 300 new cases of mouth cancer are diagnosed in Ireland every year and the disease kills more people than cervical and testicular cancer combined, however, awareness of the disease is low and many people do not see their dentist or doctor until it is too late.
The awareness campaign is designed to inform people about symptoms and encourage them to attend regular dental check-ups. Dentists can detect early warning signs and this means that cases can be treated early, increasing the chance of survival.
Symptoms of mouth cancer include red or white patches in the mouth, abnormal swellings in the mouth or throat and sores that take a long time to heal.
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