Dental Surgeries Failing To Spot Mouth Cancer Symptoms

Mon, 29 Sep 2008

Dental surgeries are failing to pick up on symptoms of mouth cancer, a new study has revealed.

According to facial surgery charity Saving Faces, dental practices are still not adequately informed of the signs of mouth cancer and as a result is causing a delay in patient treatment and resulting in invasive and disfiguring surgery for thousands.

A telephone survey of 444 London practices, carried out by the organisation, showed that even if a patient called with clear symptoms of mouth cancer, in 43 per cent of cases they were made to wait over a week for an appointment.

In 8 per cent of cases, patients were told that they would have to wait between three weeks and four months, and a further 7 per cent of dental practices said they could not see the patient at all as they had already met their NHS quota.

The survey also revealed that over a quarter of dental practices in the capital did not offer appointments on the NHS .

In addition, the charity found that the majority of calls were taken by receptionists who did not recognise the symptoms of mouth cancer, even when informed by the patient that they had suffered from a tongue ulcer for more than a month and that it had failed to heal - despite self-medication .

Professor Iain Hutchison, chief executive of Saving Faces, said: "Increased focus on the symptoms of mouth cancer has improved awareness amongst dentists but the first person a patient speaks to is often not a dentist and the study revealed that these people do not recognise even obviously risky cases."

"We see thousands of patients who are only referred to us when the mouth cancer is at an advanced stage. The treatment for such patients involves very invasive and often disfiguring surgery with long recovery periods."

The Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon added: "More needs to be done to train receptionists who are part of the treatment team. The longer a patient waits for an appointment, the more difficult it is to treat."
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