Dental checks urged as mouth cancer on rise
Early diagnosis the key to life-saving treatment
West Sussex residents are being urged to attend dental check-ups as figures show mouth cancer cases are on the rise.
With the number of cases growing by 58 per cent across the UK in the last decade, early diagnosis at check-ups is seen as the key to life-saving treatment.
However, critics say many people were struggling to access NHS dentistry even before the coronavirus crisis forced surgeries to close and then reopen with severely reduced capacity, meaning too often the cancer is often being discovered at a late stage.
At Western Sussex Hospitals trust, there were 65 hospital admissions for mouth cancer in 2018/19, according to NHS Digital figures. The figure was the same the previous year, while in 2016/17 the figure stood at 60.
Across England, hospital admissions for oral cancer increased by 30 per cent between 2010/11 and 2019/20, to 26,773.
Patients will be ‘captured’ more than once if they have to be admitted for treatment multiple times.
Roger Scholes, principal dentistatMarketHouseDental Practice in Chichester, urged people to attend check-ups – stressing that awareness and early diagnosis could make ‘all the difference’.
He said: “Obviously at the moment due to the pandemic some people are either unable to access a dentist or are choosing to hold off from visiting their dentist for routine appointments.
“When normality resumes there will be very long waiting lists to be seen.
“I would urge those patients not to let their check-ups lapse. Early detection and awareness is key.”
He added that, if diagnosed at an early stage, treatment was ‘generally very effective’.
The British Dental Association warns many people may now be ‘walking around with oral cancer that hasn’t been picked up’ thanks to the pandemic.
It reports that, in the year to the end of August, 15million appointments had been missed due to the coronavirus crisis.
A spokesman said that ‘millions of patients are now struggling to get an appointment’, adding: “For years check-ups have been effectively rationed which made the early detection of these life changing cancers an unacceptable lottery.”
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “Every cancer patient deserves the best possible care and we are committed to detecting more cancers at an earlier stage to save an estimated 55,000 lives a year by 2028.
“As part of this, every dentist is expected to fully assess their patient’s oral health to look for the signs of cancer.”