Thousands queue for free oral cancer check-ups

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More than two thousand people queued for free oral cancer check-ups at two hospitals in Ireland yesterday.

Patients waited in line for appointments at Cork University Dental Hospital and Dublin Dental University Hospital; patients in Dublin started to queue from 6:45 am and the clinic opened an hour earlier than planned to cope with the huge demand. The hospitals were offering patients free screening checks to raise awareness of different types of oral cancer and encourage people to attend regular dental check-ups and look out for early warning signs.

Oral cancer is becoming increasingly common, yet many people know nothing about it because it does not have a high profile in the media like other forms of cancer. Each year, 400 new cases of oral cancer are diagnosed in Ireland alone and the disease kills more people than skin cancer and cervical cancer.

Yesterday morning staff at the Dublin Dental University Hospital saw 750 patients and a further 500 were seen during the afternoon; around one thousand patients were still waiting at the end of the day and have subsequently been invited to come back for a check-up. Staff at the Cork University Dental Hospital saw 700 patients during the day. 

Professor June Nunn, from Dublin Dental School and Hospital, was delighted to see so many people turning out for the screening tests; she claimed that the event was ‘hugely important’ and would potentially save many lives. Regular dental check-ups can help to improve survival rates because they enable dentists to indentify early warnings signs of the disease; early treatment can improve survival rates by around 80 to 90 percent. Signs to look out for include white or red patches in the mouth, sores which do not heal and abnormal lumps or swelling in the mouth or throat. 

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