A visit to the dentist may not be everyone's idea of fun - but it could save your life.
That was the message that Professor Graham Ogden and his team recently promoted during mouth cancer awareness week. Professor Ogden, along with Viv Binnie at the University of Glasgow Dental School, recently received £83,000 from the Partnership Action on Tobacco & Health (managed by ASH Scotland) to train dental staff in smoking cessation to help their patients quit smoking and reduce their chances of developing mouth cancer.
For this year's mouth cancer awareness week, the focus was on early detection. A number of events over the week helped to raise awareness about mouth cancer, the lifestyle factors with which it is associated, and the warning signs of the disease.
Oral cancer in Scottish men is as common as cervical cancer in women. In Scotland, there are 500 new cases diagnosed each year (men and women). Smoking increases the risk of getting mouth cancer by 10 times.
Cancer can occur in any part of the mouth, tongue, lips and throat. Mouth cancers have a higher proportion of deaths per number of cases than breast cancer, cervical cancer or skin melanoma.
Professor Ogden said, "Survival rates for those diagnosed with mouth cancer have declined in recent years. It is vital that people are aware of the warning signs and of the risk factors such as smoking, and that they visit their dentist if in any doubt. I hope the work of University staff and students alongside NHS staff during mouth cancer awareness week has raised awareness and helped to combat this condition."