Mouth Cancer Action Month is held in November every year and is supported by the Mouth Cancer Foundation and the Oral Health Foundation.

According to the Mouth Cancer Foundation, in the UK, mouth cancer causes more deaths each year than road traffic accidents. One-in-three of mouth cancers occur on the tongue and nearly one-in-four appear on the tonsil.¹

Mouth Cancer Action Month is key in raising awareness and drawing attention to this important issue, both to the public and professionals. The key takeaways are to be ‘mouthaware’ and ‘if in doubt, get checked out’.

Mouth cancer, and cancer of the head and neck, have been widely discussed across the BDJ Portfolio and below are some recent highlights from across our journals.

Esha Gupta, Al Hussein Hamed, Selma Al-Kutubi and Ans Sibi discuss prevalence, red flags, management, and prevention of oral cancer as a dental student in BDJ Student.

Evidence-Based Dentistry has published articles on “osteopontin as a prognostic biomarker in head and neck cancer” and the “efficacy of herbal and benzydamine mouthwashes in preventing radiation-induced oral mucositis among head and neck cancer patients”.

A Mouth Cancer Themed Issue  was published in BDJ Team, covering topics such as looking out for lip cancer and the role of orthodontic therapists in detection.

A recent case report published in the British Dental Journal discusses metastatic melanoma posing as periapical pathology. A useful resource also published is a Top Tips article on how to treat patients with a history of head and neck cancer. 

Finally, the topic of vaping and e-cigarettes and oral cancer risk are discussed in both the British Dental Journal and  Evidence-Based Dentistry. 

BDJ In Practice and BDJ Student Editor, David Westgarth, also puts forth a year-round approach to mouth cancer awareness, in the hope people will remain vigilant all year.

Resources

The Oral Health Foundation has published a helpful ‘how to spot mouth cancer’ page, as well as the risk factors associated with mouth cancer.^2,3

The Mouth Cancer Foundation has also created an abundance of leaflets and materials, from educational print-outs to social media resources.⁴

If you would like to read more, visit the Mouth Cancer Foundation website.

References

1. https://www.mouthcancerfoundation.org/mouth-cancer-facts-and-figures/
2. https://www.dentalhealth.org/spotthesigns
3. https://www.dentalhealth.org/therisks
4. https://www.mouthcancerfoundation.org/educational-resources