Confidence Dental & Wellbeing are supporting Mouth Cancer Month by offering the public FREE mouth cancer screening.
A summary of the key findings
- New cases of mouth cancer in the UK reached 8,846 last year.
- This has increased by 34% in the last decade and by 103% compared with 20 years’ ago.
- 58% of mouth cancers appear on the tongue and tonsils.
- Last year, 3,034 people in the UK lost their life to mouth cancer.
- The ten-year survival rate is between 18% and 57%, depending on where the cancer strikes and how early it is diagnosed.
- Almost nine-in-ten (88%) UK adults have now heard of mouth cancer. However, awareness on the signs, symptoms and risk factors is poor.
- Awareness of the major signs and symptoms for mouth cancer are as low as 17%.
- Awareness on the major risk factors of mouth cancer is as low as 9%.
- Improving access to NHS dentistry, tackling late diagnosis, and protecting public health policies are some of the key challenges in confronting mouth cancer.
- The report calls for for more funding for NHS dentistry, investment in education and the need to boost uptake of the HPV vaccination.
