Free mouth cancer examinations will be available at 700 dental surgeries as part of National Mouth Cancer Awareness Day next Wednesday.
Now in its third year, the initiative aims to raise awareness of mouth cancer, a disease that causes more than 100 deaths in Ireland a year. The initiative is backed by the Irish Dental Association, the Irish Cancer Society, the Dental Health Foundation and Mouth, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Ireland. It is also supported by the Dublin Dental University Hospital and Cork Dental University Hospital, both of which will be offering free examinations on the day.
Some 300 cases of mouth cancer are detected in Ireland each year and it kills more Irish people than cervical cancer or skin melanoma.