Cancer rates blamed on NHS dentist shortage
Sunday 27 January 2008
Latest in Health News
On Facebook
Life & Style blogs
CC kills more people than cervical cancer; why haven’t we heard about it?
There is a disease whose incidence is rising in the UK and most of the industrialised world. However...
Time for a new approach to alcohol
Ambulances were called and three drunk teenagers were brought to my care. One was so drunk we had to...
London Fashion Week countdown
London Fashion Week is nearly upon us (again) and the invites are fast piling up. Our fashion team w...
A shortage of NHS dentists is leading to thousands of needless deaths from mouth cancer, according to dental experts.
Nigel Carter, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, called on the Government to improve the availability of dental care to ensure early detection of the cancer.
"The survival rate of mouth cancer has not improved in 30 years," he said. "If people were able to gain easier access to a dentist then the 50 per cent mortality rate could be significantly improved. It is Britain's secret cancer despite killing more people annually than cervical and testicular cancer put together."
There are 4,750 new cases of mouth cancer in Britain a year. A Citizens Advice survey found that almost three million adults in England and Wales have had no dental treatment since the introduction of a new NHS contract for dentists in April. The BDHF estimates that the real figure for the UK is up to 30 million.
"That's the really frightening number," said Dr Carter. "We need funding at ground level to ensure people are given easier access to dental care."
- 1 Ninety gaffes in ninety years
- 2 Spotify: 1 million plays, £108 return
- 3 Apple admits it has a human rights problem
- 4 Rangers future could be bright says administrator
- 5 Rothschild loses libel case, and reveals secret world of money and politics
- 6 MP faces charges over Nazi stag night
- 7 Six Grammys, five years off: Adele puts love before career
- 8 No secularism please, we're British
- 9 Mark Steel: If religion is 'marginal', I'm the Pope
- 10 Lightning kills an entire football team
Free trial of new Independent iPad app
Get your daily dose of the best of British journalism, sponsored by American Airlines
Win a three-week coastal jaunt
Spend three weeks exploring every nook and cranny of gorgeous Atlantic Canada.
Amazing restaurant offers
Three glasses of free champagne and a special menu at 46 top London restaurants.
Latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Career Services
Day In a Page
How an abortion divided America
Did they all live happily ever after? That's up to you...




Comments