Call for action on stagnant mouth cancer rates

UK experts have called for an urgent review of oral cancer policies, after a survey revealed that the number of deaths from the disease has remained static over the past 30 years.

The number of overall cancer deaths has dropped 15% over the same period.

Oral cancer figures have remained steady through a dangerous lack of public awareness, suggest the findings, taken from the British Dental Health Foundation's National Dental Survey 2007. One in four of respondents had never heard of the condition, the report stated.

"Our survey proves that awareness of this condition is dangerously low," said Dr Nigel Carter, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation. "The number of mouth cancer cases is increasing every year, and more and more young people and women are being affected."

The announcement was timed to coincide with Mouth Cancer Awareness Week.

Commenting on the findings, Professor Saman Warnakulasuriya, chair in oral medicine and experimental oral pathology at King's College London, addressed an audience of politicians and leading dental figures at the official launch of the Mouth Cancer Awareness campaign at the House of Commons.

"We need research into why people with mouth cancer symptoms, such as ulcers that don't heal or red or white patches in the mouth, are so slow to visit their dentist," he said.

Warnakulasuriya urged the government to set aside more funding to boost research efforts, noting that treatments for oral cancer patients have not changed in 30 years.

"We need to develop innovative ways of genetic screening to develop new treatments," he said. "Mortality rates of other cancers have improved as new treatments are introduced, but mouth cancer patients are still receiving the same treatment as they did 30 years ago. It is clear that much innovation is needed if we are to improve survival rates."

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