Swadlincote dentists don blue lips to raise awareness of mouth cancer
A dental team at a Swadlincote practice donned blue lips last week in support of the Oral Health Foundation’s annual Mouth Cancer Action Month campaign.
Members of staff at Hughes and Owen Dental Care painted their lips blue in order to raise awareness of mouth cancer, a form of cancer, which affects around 7,000 people every year in the UK.
Dentist, Mark Watson, explained that painting the lips blue was an effort to try and encourage patients to be more mouth aware and urge them to learn more about oral cancer and the symptoms and warning signs that it may present. Sadly, most cases of mouth cancer are diagnosed at an advanced stage, and this is largely due to the fact that many people are unware of the symptoms and they may not seek advice from a dentist or doctor until the cancer has become more advanced. Symptoms include unexplained oral pain, difficulty swallowing, red or white patches in the mouth, lumps or swelling in the mouth or throat and ulcers that take a long time to heal (longer than two weeks).
Early diagnosis increases the chances of survival significantly and this is why dentists like Mr Watson are eager for people to be more aware of the early symptoms.
To get people talking about mouth cancer, Mr Watson and his team posted blue lips selfies on social media.
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