Mouth cancer referrals have fallen by thirty-three per cent since the pandemic began in the UK

Urgent action has been called upon as mouth cancer referrals have fallen by thirty-three per cent since the pandemic began in the UK, according to the Oral Health Foundation.

The data collection involved seven NHS Trust Hospitals throughout the UK and revealed that the number of patients referred for possible mouth cancer fell from two-thousand, two-hundred and fifty-seven in the six months before March 2020, to one-thousand, five-hundred and six in the six months after March 2020. In addition, during this time, six out of
seven NHS Trust whitnessed mouth cancer referrals slashed. Also, a forty-seven per cent fall in referrals, the biggest fall in the UK, was recorded by two hospitals in Wales.

A backlog of more than fourteen million has been estimated by the British Dental Association, and as a result, Chief Executive of the Oral Health Foundation, Dr Nigel Carter, encourages self-checks at home.

Dr Nigel Carter stated: “Regular dental check-ups and GP appointments are the main routes for identifying the early stages of mouth cancer. We fear that without access to dental and wider health professionals, that many mouth cancer cases will go undiagnosed. A person’s quality of life after being treated for mouth cancer, as well as their chances of beating the disease, is highly dependent on the time of diagnosis. By allowing so many potential mouth cancers to go untreated, there is a real danger of more people losing their life to the disease. While dental and GP visits remain disrupted it is important that everybody knows how to check themselves for mouth cancer.”