Seeing as it’s mouth cancer action month, we at Andrew House Dental Practice thought that now would be a good time to raise awareness for it and let you know how you can reduce your chances of developing it.
Mouth cancer occurs when a tumour develops within the mouth. This can be anywhere from the tongue to the gums or even in the glands that produce saliva.
Symptoms of the disease include, mouth ulcers, unexplained loose teeth, numbness of the lip and/or tongue and changes in speech (e.g. a lisp), just to name a few.
Mouth cancer is the 6th most prevalent cancer in the world and roughly 8,300 people are diagnosed with it each year in the UK. This goes to show how important it is to take preventative measures against it wherever you can.
In order to help with this, our specialist team at Andrew House Dental Practice have put together a few actions that you can take in order to reduce the risk of developing any cancerous growths in the mouth. Please do check out the points below as this information could prove to be extremely valuable to you.
Tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars, pipes, chewing tobacco, etc are known to be one of the biggest causes of mouth cancer. They produce toxins and carcinogens (cancer-causing agents) which dramatically increase your chances of developing the disease.
If you reduce your tobacco intake then you are much less likely to end up with mouth cancer down the line as you will be exposed to less toxins. Reducing tobacco consumption also helps to prevent cancer in other areas of the body, such as in the throat and lungs.
Lowering your alcohol consumption is another method that helps to reduce the likelihood of mouth cancer. Alcohol also releases some carcinogens so it is advised to limit how much you drink, especially if you are also a smoker.
The Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is a virus that spreads through oral sex and has the potential to cause mouth cancer. Individuals who have unprotected sex with multiple partners are more at risk to catching HPV than others.
To reduce your chances of contracting HPV, you should always practice safe sex and limit your number of sexual partners. For the younger generation, HPV vaccines are now available as a preemptive measure against the virus.
If you are registered with us at Andrew House Dental Practice then it is very important that you attend your routine check-ups. This is because, if you have developed a cancerous growth in your mouth, we are best placed to be the first to detect it.
Abnormalities in your mouth are one thing that we always look for during check-ups and if we spot anything then we will always refer you to a specialist.
We hope that you found this blog useful and informative. If you would like any more information on how to reduce the risk of mouth cancer or even to just book a routine appointment, please contact us today.