Penn Dental Students Prepare for Oral Cancer Walk

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Dental students from the University of Pennsylvania are gearing up for the annual Philadelphia Oral Cancer Walk, which will take place this weekend on Saturday 28th March.

This will be the seventh annual walk and organisers are hoping that it helps to raise awareness of a disease that kills more than 8,000 people every year in the USA. The walk will begin in Penn Park and end at Penn Dental Medicine. The route is around 5 kilometres long and participants can complete it at any pace they like.

The American Cancer Society states that more people will die from oral cancer this year than ovarian and brain cancer, yet awareness of oral cancer remains relatively low. Events like the charity walk help to get people talking about oral cancer and this will hopefully save lives in the future.

Thomas Sollecito, chair and professor at the School of Dental Medicine, said that early diagnosis can make a huge difference to oral cancer patients and the aim is to encourage people to look out for warning signs and to promote oral cancer screening.

During the walk, students and members of staff from the university will be offering free screening at the Schattner Center. An oral cancer survivor who was treated by Mr Sollecito will also be giving a keynote speech

The event will mark the end of a year-long awareness campaign run by dental students. It has been run by second year student J.V.Kracke and third year student Katherine France.

The walk will begin at 8.30am.

 

 

 

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