COMMUNITY dentists in Worcestershire carried out 136 checks on patients in the county as part of November’s Mouth Cancer Awareness Month.

Members of the Worcestershire Health and Care Trust’s Community Dental Service visited community hospitals across the county throughout the month offering free checks and information on the common symptoms of the disease.

Of the 136 people they saw, two had suspicious symptoms and were referred to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust’s Head and Neck Cancer Service. A few others had minor signs of the disease and were advised to get checked regularly.

The trust’s dental health coordinator Alison Willis said she was pleased by how many patients had come to visit her and her colleagues during the campaign.

“If those patients who were diagnosed with possible signs of mouth cancer hadn’t come to us the disease could have gone undetected for much longer, which would have had some serious consequences,” she said.

“So if we were able to save a couple of lives, then I think we’ve done a good job.

“One patient wasn’t seeing a dentist but his GP for his sore tongue.

“A lot of people told us they thought dentists only looked after teeth, not other parts of the mouth.

“We received very positive feedback from patients, who really appreciated having more information than just a mouth check and will hopefully cascade this information down to other family members.”

The amount of people diagnosed with mouth cancer has increased by more than 50 per cent in the past decade, with 2,000 people dying as a result of the disease every year.

In Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire combined 89 cases of head and neck cancer last year.

Mouth cancer is twice as common in men than in women, with the most common causes including drinking alcohol to excess, smoking, age, poor diet and the human papilloma virus – also known as HPV.

The trust’s dental services business manager Rachel Wakley said more than two thirds of cases are detected too late to be treated.

“Older people with dentures in particular tend to think they don’t need to go to the dentist,” she said.

“However they are also at risk of getting mouth cancer.

“So we urge people to visit their dentist to get checked, which could save your life”.

Common symptoms of mouth cancer include a sore or ulcer in the mouth that persists for more than three weeks, difficulty in chewing or moving the jaw or tongue, swelling of the jaw, unexplained earache and a feeling that something is caught in the throat.

Ways of avoiding the disease include brushing teeth twice daily, regular visits to the dentist and cutting down on smoking and drinking as well as sugary food and drinks.