Regular dental checkups and oral hygiene visits are important for identifying the early stage of mouth cancer. However, the shortage of dentists in the UK has led to a rise in mouth cancers that are spotted too late, according to the charity Oral Health Foundation. Ninety per cent of NHS dentists surveyed by the BBC last year were not accepting new adult patients for NHS treatment.
Every year, about 9,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with mouth cancer and just over 3,000 lives are lost to the disease.
