Leading Dental Charity Issues Mouth Cancer Warning
The UK’s leading dental charity, the British Dental Health Foundation, has warned that lives are being lost to mouth cancer due to people waiting to see a dentist or doctor once they have spotted potential symptoms of the disease.
The charity, which campaigns to raise awareness of mouth cancer, is concerned that survival rates could fall because people are waiting to seek professional advice once they have come across potential signs of mouth cancer.
A research study, which appeared in the International Journal of Cancer, revealed that people are waiting almost a month to see a dentist or doctor once they have discovered symptoms, which may be linked to mouth cancer. This was among the longest waiting times for symptoms of any form of cancer, with an average waiting time of just 2-3 days for those who presented the symptoms of kidney and bladder cancer.
The study showed that just over half of those surveyed would wait at least four weeks to seek medical help if they had a slow-healing ulcer, one of the most common warning signs of mouth cancer.
Chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, Dr Nigel Carter OBE said that the study highlights a lack of awareness of the symptoms of mouth cancer and this is contributing to late diagnosis, which reduces the chances of survival. Dr Carter added that the charity is continuing to try and raise awareness of the causes and signs of mouth cancer and to encourage people to look out for ulcers and sores that take a long time to heal, lumps in the mouth and throat and red and white patches in the mouth.
Most cases in the UK are diagnosed when cancer is at stage 4, the most advanced stage and this means that survival rates are relatively low. The main goal for the foundation and other mouth cancer charities is to ensure that more cases are diagnosed at an early stage, when cancer is more treatable.
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