Tyneside Dental Team Highlight Oral Cancer Causes

Sample News Big

Oral health professionals in Tyneside are joining forces to host a series of events to highlight the causes and risk factors for mouth cancer.

Members of the Oral Health Promotion Team have joined forces with Macmillan Nurse Specialists and foundation dentists to host educational sessions and screening checks in Newcastle this week. The aim of the sessions is to provide information about the causes of mouth cancer and encourage people to look out for symptoms and get checked out on a regular basis. Screening takes only a couple of minutes but can save lives.

Mouth cancer has become increasingly common, with the number of cases doubling over the course of the last decade alone, but a large proportion of people are still unaware of the symptoms and causes of the disease.

Dental experts are eager to raise awareness of risk factors, including drinking alcohol, smoking and exposure to the Human Papilloma Virus. Studies also show that people who drink and smoke are up to 30 times more likely to develop the disease than people who do not drink or smoke.

Symptoms to look out for include red or white patches in the mouth, unusual swellings in the mouth or throat and slow-healing ulcers.

The screening sessions are taking place as part of Mouth Cancer Action Month, a national campaign run by the British Dental Health Foundation.

 

Join this Discussion

Comments are closed.