Dental professionals often pick up the tell-tale signs at a routine check-up. New data shows there were 9,860 cases of mouth cancer in the UK in 2020/21 - up 12 per cent on the previous comparable year. The disease killed more than 3,000 people in 2021 - up 46 per cent from 2,075 a decade ago.
Early detection results in a roughly 90 per cent survival rate, compared to a 50 per cent survival rate for delayed diagnosis. In this context, the BDA stresses ongoing access problems will make a difference between life and death for some patients.
While ‘high risk’ patients can be targeted - older smokers, heavy drinkers - there is a significant growth in cases of Human papillomavirus (HPV), who are generally younger, do not usually smoke and drink little or no alcohol.
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