Left to right: Karen and Ralph Goodson, Natalie Bradley, Jason Stokes, Tony and June Page. Both Ralph and Tony are oral cancer survivors.
We have screened MPs and peers for oral cancers, spelling out the risks of the condition, and the threat posed by late detection fuelled by ongoing access problems.
Oral cancers claim more lives than car accidents. 3,637 people die from oral cancer each year in the UK, compared with 1,671 deaths from road traffic collisions. More people die in the UK each year than from cervical and testicular cancers combined.
We stressed that early diagnosis is critical and changes outcomes. For oral cavity cancer in England, data shows more than 85% of people diagnosed at stage 1 survived for five years or more, compared with 35% diagnosed at stage 4. However, access problems remain endemic, with unmet need for care standing at over 13 million adults in England alone. And we are pressing Government to keep its promises to rebuild access to NHS care.
We were part of the coalition that successfully secured an extension of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to boys. HPV causes around 70% of oropharyngeal cancers and 4.5% of all cancers, and we have expressed concern that vaccine uptake remains stubbornly low. In England, uptake among year 8 pupils in 2024-25 was 71.7% for girls and 67% for boys. This is below a pre-pandemic level of around 90% for girls.
“Nothing spells out why dentistry isn’t an optional extra more than oral cancer,” says our board member Jason Stokes.
“This condition claims more lives than car accidents, and early detection is so key.
Dentistry must not be reduced to an accident and emergency service, or one of the first casualties will be oral cancer screening and the benefit this brings.”
Fellow board member Natalie Bradley, who delivered the screening added: “Almost every colleague will have spotted the tell-tale signs at a check-up.
We have a simple message for MPs. The fact is oral cancer can be a killer, and your dentist could save your life.”
Our popular Oral Cancer Recognition Toolkit learning course developed with Cancer Research UK is available for members. We will be hosting a free live webinar for members on early diagnosis and the patient pathway on Wednesday 25 November 2026, from 19:30 to 20:30.