• 9/26/2005
  • Scotland
  • staff
  • News.scotsman.com

Increasing numbers of young people are being hit by mouth cancer, sparking new warnings about the disease. Mouth cancer was once considered to mostly affect older men, but it is now becoming more common in younger people and women.

It is possible that binge-drinking and smoking could be helping to fuel rising rates of the disease as these are key risk factors.

Now the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF) is warning people of all ages that they need to start checking their mouths regularly if rising rates of mouth cancer are to be stopped.

The ratio of women to men suffering mouth cancer has grown by a third in the last 10 years, although men are still twice as likely to develop the disease.

Mouth cancer is sometimes called oral cancer and can affect the lips, tongue, cheeks and throat. Every year in the UK, there are 4,300 new cases diagnosed and 1,700 deaths.

The most common causes of mouth cancer are smoking and drinking alcohol to excess – people who do both are up to 30 times more likely to develop the condition than those who do not. Having a poor diet is also linked to the disease.

But the BDHF said about 25% of mouth cancer cases in younger people involved none of these common risk factors. The foundation said this meant it was vital people learnt to be aware of the possible symptoms, even if they led a healthy lifestyle.