Oral Cancer: Without Screening “People Are Going To Die” Warns Dentist
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- Published: Thursday, 28 September 2023 08:41
- Written by Guy Tuggle
- Hits: 1697
Broadcasting her highly charged message to market via Tik Tok, Cornwall dentist Dr Emi Mawson has hit out at the deadliest consequence of patients not being able to see NHS dentists for regular check-ups. Undiagnosed oral cancer.
Dr Mawson who goes under the name dentist_emi on Tik Tok has accumulated over 86,000 followers and her posts have been liked by over 1.9 million viewers.At times biting back her tears, Mawson’s video, which has been watched over 250,000 times, recounts how she examined a patient at an urgent care appointment who had not seen a dentist in several years and who had presented with toothache.
When Dr Mawson looked in the patient’s mouth she discovered what she believed to be oral cancer.
Mawson shot her Tik-Tok video having just received a letter back from the hospital team confirming that the patient did indeed have oral cancer.
“I’m just feeling so frustrated” said Eli, “and let down the NHS dental system in the UK at the moment. Because that person hadn’t been able to get an NHS dental appointment for years and it’s so important that oral cancer screenings are done every year.
“This person had no idea they had oral cancer growing in their mouth. It grows quickly, it grows silently, you don’t know have it. It can go unnoticed but, when it gets to a point where it’s noticeable it’s usually too late because the survival chances are less than five per cent for five years.
“Early diagnosis is so essential but how are people meant to get these conditions diagnosed if they’re not even able to see an NHS dentist?”
Caught in its very early stages before it has spread, oral cancer has an 85% survival rate. 8,722 people were diagnosed in 2019 – a 97% increase since 2000. Tobacco, alcohol and HPV are high risk factors, the latter being credited with fuelling much of the growth.
Pointing to a map of England labelled with percentages Dr Mason highlighted that fewer than half the adult population have seen a dentist in the last two years.
The travails of would-be patients endeavouring to access NHS dentistry have been well documented across the media and Parliament in recent years. Most coverage has focussed on patients unable to access dentistry resorting to pulling their own teeth out in desperation.
As oral cancer receives more prominence, aided not least by the evangelical messaging of clinicians likes Dr Mawson, the consequences of the NHS dental access crisis will make for even more uncomfortable reading.
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