Students fight against cancer

A man who lost his 22 year old son to mouth cancer has spoken to University dental students about the importance of spotting the disease at an early stage.

As dentists are the health professionals most likely to diagnose oral cancer or changes in the mouth, teaching dentistry students about the symptoms they should be looking out for is crucial in the fight against the disease.

Mike Walton, whose son Ben died from the disease established a relationship with the University when he spotted Professor Graham Ogden's name in a research paper on oral cancer. Mike and Graham now work together on the Scottish Oral Cancer Action Group.

£1,000 was raised at the dental students' annual slave auction and donated to the Ben Walton Trust. The money has been kindly donated back to the dental school by Mike Walton, for a discretionary fund which is used to support patients with mouth cancer.