Oral cancer survivor urges the public to keep up to date with dental checks
Oral cancer survivor, Andrea Fearon, from Thatcham, has shared her story to encourage the public to keep up to date with routine dental checks.
Andrea, 45, was diagnosed with mouth cancer last year following a routine check-up in 2009, which flagged up a potential warning sign; as a diligent dental patient, she never missed a check-up and was shocked to hear that something could be wrong when her dentist spotted a white patch on the inside of her tongue. At the time, her dentist said it was probably nothing to worry about, but that it was best to see a GP so that it could be checked out. Just a few weeks later, Andrea was incredibly relieved to hear from her consultant that she had nothing to worry about following a series of tests. However, she continued to see her dentist, who, as an expert in mouth cancer, continued to pay attention to the patch and took photographs to document any visible changes.
Around 5 years after the initial appointment, Andrea started to notice changes herself; she developed shooting pains in her tongue when she ate certain foods and the white patch started to rub against her teeth painfully; it also become red and swollen. When she saw her dentist, he did not hesitate in recommending a trip to the GP as quickly as possible and shortly afterwards, Andrea was sent for another biopsy.
Early in the New Year last year, Andrea was told that she had mouth cancer and underwent surgery to remove the cancerous tissue from the tongue and rebuild it with a vein and tissue from the arm and skin from the tummy; the procedure lasted 10 hours. Andrea also had a mass in her lungs, but it could not be investigated properly using a biopsy because of its location. Once the cancer in the mouth had been treated, the mass from the lungs was removed; subsequent tests revealed that it was also cancerous.
In March last year, Andrea started her recovery and both procedures were a success. She credits her survival to her dentist, whose vigilance probably made the difference between life and death. If it wasn’t for his commitment to his patient and the fact that Andrea saw him on a regular basis, she may not still be here today.
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