mouth cancer awareness Archives - St Michael's Orthodontics

Beating mouth cancer is so dependent on diagnosing it at an early stage.

If it is caught early, the chances of surviving mouth cancer are nine out of ten – those odds are pretty good, and that’s why early detection is so important.

Sadly, far too many mouth cancers are not spotted early enough.

Mouth Cancer Action Month promotes the message ‘If in doubt, get checked out’. We encourage everybody to be mouthaware and pay more attention to what’s going on inside the mouth. Most importantly, if you notice anything out of the ordinary, it is essential that you tell your dentist or doctor immediately.

Checking for mouth cancer

As mouth cancer can strike in a number of places, including the lips, tongue, gums and cheeks, and given that early detection is so crucial for survival, it’s extremely important that we all know what to look out for.

Three signs and symptoms not to ignore are:

Mouth ulcers which do not heal in three weeks.

Red and white patches in the mouth.

Unusual lumps or swellings in the mouth or head and neck area.

When checking for signs of mouth cancer you should follow the following routine:

Head and neck

Check if both sides look the same and search for any lumps, bumps or swellings that are only on one side of the face. Feel and press along the sides and front of your neck being alert to any tenderness or lumps to the touch.

Lips

Pull down your lower lip and look inside for any sores or changes in colour. Use your thumb and forefinger to feel the lip for any unusual lumps, bumps or changes in texture. Repeat this on the upper lip.

Cheek

Use your finger to pull out your cheek so that they can see inside. Look for red, white or dark patches.

Then place your index finger inside your cheek, with your opposing thumb on the outside gently squeeze and roll the cheek to check for any lumps, tenderness or ulcers, repeat this action on the other cheek.

Roof of the mouth

With your head tilted back and mouth open wide, your dentist will look to see if there are any lumps or if there is any change in colour. They will run their ﬁnger on the roof of your mouth to feel for any lumps.

Tongue

Examine your tongue, looking at the surface for any changes in colour or texture.

Stick out your tongue or move it from one side to another, again looking for any swelling, change in colour or ulcers. Finally, take a look at the underside of the tongue by placing the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth.

Floor of the mouth

Look at the floor of the mouth for changes in colour that are different than normal. Press your finger along the floor of your mouth and underside of your tongue to feel for any unusual lumps, swellings or ulcers.

If you find anything unusual in any of these areas, or are unsure of anything, visit your dentist or doctor as soon as possible.

How can mouth cancer be detected early?

Mouth cancer can often be spotted in its early stages by your dentist during a thorough mouth examination. This happens during your routine dental check-up.

In addition to its annual support of Mouth Cancer Action Month, campaign sponsor Denplan has stepped up a gear this year by creating the Blue Lip Selfie campaign with the British Dental Health Foundation.

By encouraging the public and profession to adopt blue lips as a visible sign of support for mouth cancer, it is hoped this positive, interactive approach will significantly boost awareness of the disease.

“We’ve been inspired by other hugely effective charitable campaigns such as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and No Make-up Selfie and their success in raising awareness and funds for serious diseases,” said Steve Gates, Denplan’s Managing Director. “We felt that, with the significant increase in cases of mouth cancer over the last decade, it’s never been more important to get people talking about mouth cancer and encourage everyone to regularly visit their dentist. That’s why we feel passionately about creating the Blue Lip Selfie campaign with the British Dental Health Foundation.

“We chose blue lips as a visible sign of support to reflect the Mouth Cancer Action Month blue ribbon, and also because it’s striking, fun and unmissable! It’s a fresh approach to an established annual campaign and we’ve seen a huge buzz in the industry about it already.”

Organised by the British Dental Health Foundation, Mouth Cancer Action Month promotes the message ‘if in doubt, get checked out’ in a bid to save thousands of lives through early detection and is supported by hundreds of dental practices nationwide. This year the campaign is encouraging the public to be ‘Mouthaware’.

“The campaign provides an ideal platform for dental practice teams to engage with both existing patients and local residents,” said Steve. “Practices can use blue lips as a visible sign of their support for the campaign and share photos

To make it easy for everyone to participate, Denplan has created a special Facebook app at www.bluelipselfie.co.uk that will launch at the end of October. Users can upload and customise selfies with fun blue cartoon lips using the app and share them on the gallery. To boost the viral potential of the campaign, Denplan is also encouraging people to share their blue lip selfies on social media using #bluelipselfie.

“To highlight the main reason behind the Blue Lip Selfie campaign, there is also an informative video on the app featuring real people who have survived mouth cancer- all because their dentist spotted signs of the disease early,” said Steve. “By sharing these moving, yet positive, stories in the words of those who have experienced mouth cancer first-hand, we hope to pass on the message that mouth cancer is very treatable when caught early, as well as raising awareness of the disease, risks and symptoms. We’re very grateful to all the contributors who shared their stories.”

The British Dental Health Foundation has set up a special Blue Lip Selfie JustGiving page for any donations or sponsorship money raised which will be specifically used for mouth cancer support groups.

Dr Nigel Carter Chief Executive of the British Dental Health Foundation commented “We are as always extremely grateful for Denplan’s ongoing support of Mouth Cancer Action Month. They have for many years been a key support for the campaign. This year they have hugely increased their support by creating the blue lip selfie app and we are hopeful that this idea will go viral greatly increasing the reach and impact of the campaign and generating significant funds to support mouth cancer sufferers.”

Article can be found at http://www.dentalhealth.org/news/details/820

Tag Archives: mouth cancer awareness

How to spot mouth cancer