Growing mouth cancer rates means one in seven of us know someone affected by the disease.
New research looked into whether we knew people diagnosed with mouth cancer, a survivor or still battling mouth cancer and the number of mouth cancer scares someone close to them had experienced and found one in seven people knew someone affected by the disease.
With cases of mouth cancer approaching 7,000 and deaths exceeding 2,000 for the first time, mouth cancer campaigners believe more people could soon know someone affected.
The results have been published by oral health charity the British Dental Health Foundation, who aim to raise awareness of the disease through November’s Mouth Cancer Action Month.
The campaign will be aiming to get more mouth cancers diagnosed at an early stage by increasing education of the risk factors and signs and symptoms while encouraging everybody to discuss them with their dental professional.
The disease has grown by a third in the last decade – and remains one of very few cancers which are predicted to increase further in the coming years.
Although there are risk factors heavily linked to the disease, mouth cancer can affect anybody. That’s why it’s so important that we all know what to look out for. An ulcer that does not heal within three weeks, an unusual lump or swelling or red and white patch in your mouth could be a sign of mouth cancer.
If in doubt get checked out.
