We are a small team at TG’s Dental Suite in Ashby de la Zouch who are committed to raising awareness and funds for Mouth Cancer Action Month this November. Unfortunately, we are seeing increased rates of mouth cancer, and the lack of education and awareness among the general public is disheartening and also very concerning.
People who attend the dentist will receive an oral cancer check as part of their regular routine examination. However, in the current climate, people are often delaying dental appointments, so things can go unnoticed for longer periods of time. We want to play our part in reducing the risk.
500 MILES FOR SMILES – During November, each team member will be taking time out of their day, every day, to don a mouth cancer awareness t-shirt and pound the streets. By doing this, we hope to spread the word and get people talking. We will be chatting to people as we pass and educating the general public. We even have blue lipstick to grab attention and start conversations! In essence, we will be walking an absolute minimum of 500 miles for smiles as a team effort over the month – our role as dental care professionals is to save people’s smiles, and we plan to do just that!
In addition, on 12th November, come rain or shine, we will be donning our blue attire and garish lipstick and taking part in a team walk at Bradgate Park in Leicestershire – with a pub lunch as a treat afterwards, of course! As we walk, we will be hoping to raise awareness, hand out information leaflets, and fill our change buckets, which have been provided by the Oral Health Foundation.
The Oral Health Foundation team are very excited about our campaign and are going to help promote us on their website and social media, which we are ecstatic about.
We have a just giving page, which is: justgiving.com/fundraising/tgsdentalteamwalk500milesforsmiles
Finally, as dental care professionals, we play an integral role in the health of our community. We are very passionate about this role, hence our campaign this November. We would like this to reach as many people as possible, and if we can prevent a single case of mouth cancer it will be worth every blister and every second of our time.
I have included some statistics below, which I am sure will stress the importance of what we are doing and why.
One person every three HOURS is lost to mouth cancer.
There are over 8,300 new cases in the UK each year.
Each year, 2,700+ lives are lost to mouth cancer.
Worldwide, mouth cancer affects 650,000 people per year.
Mouth cancer is TWICE as common in men as in women, although an increasing number of women are being diagnosed with the disease.
78% of cases occur in the over-55 age group.
Incidence has risen by 49% over the past ten years.
The five-year survival rate has hardly improved in the last few decades due to late detection.
25% of mouth cancer cases have no associated significant risk factors.
More people in the UK die each year of mouth cancer than of cervical and testicular cancer combined.
Mouth cancer causes more deaths in the UK each year than road traffic accidents.
