Oral cancer incidence in EU countries is about 66,650 cases yearly and it has been rising over the years. Oral mouth cancer if not caught early has high morbidity rate. If discovered in time however it increases the chances of survival of up to 90%. This information made me committed to try and make a difference in the environment I live and work. I have decided to write this article and ask you to join me in this mission as well.
Yes, You and Me! We can make a difference. I’m a dental nurse and I have decided to join BDHF in their November Mouth Cancer Action. This is charity action which consequently year by year helps professional like you and me get involved.
We can help our patients with simply providing them information about the mouth cancer which quite often is a tabu topic within the dental
environment. This might be because we do not want to scare our patients who most of the times are scared anyway even on the thought on coming into dental surgery or generally ‘hate’ coming to the dentist.. The truth is we do not talk and warn our patients about the mouth cancer enough. This is controversially the most important thing in fight with every cancer. ‘Raise the awareness’ we can read this on cancer research website. We need to provide our patients with information so they can make informed decisions about their actions, which often have impact on the incidence of mouth cancer. If you feel the same as me please join this action. BDF supplies leaflets t-shirts and even little blue ribbons, they are relatively inexpensive. You can also create your own leaflets or even a little display. Our dentists are often too busy to think about this. So this is up to us-competent dental professionals to try help them organise this.
Please refer to BDHf website for any information and resources needed. Trust me, it will be rewarding and will help you get out of your daily routine.
Agata Ignaszewska
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