Dentists to lobby government amid fears of missed oral cancer screenings

This week, within its closed Facebook group, the BAPD took a straw poll of dentist members to see if they felt their current ability to screen patients for oral cancer and refer appropriately is impaired in comparison to the situation pre-pandemic.

They noted that: ‘There are currently a large number of barriers, for example, we are seeing fewer people per day, wearing restrictive PPE makes it difficult to work, people are not attending for examinations since they are shielding, referral pathways are closed, etc.’

The straw poll reveals that 676 out of 755 dental professionals who participated were experiencing difficulties in referring patients who are suspected of having oral cancer from primary to secondary care.

Jason Smithson, co-founder of the Association, says: ‘The comments would suggest a multifactorial problem – however, there would seem to be some common themes.

‘Clearly, this is a serious problem for the profession and therefore we have compiled a survey that we hope to present to Public Health England and NHS England and may impact fallow and PPE.’