Links between HCV and mouth cancer

There are estimated to be more than 200,000 people in the UK who suffer from chronic HCV infection and leading health charity, the Oral Health Foundation, want to ensure that people are aware of the risks associated with HCV infection.

The charity has called on patients who have been diagnosed with the Hepatitis C virus to be extra vigilant to changes in their mouth and to visit their doctor or dentist as soon as possible if they think they find anything unusual.

CEO of the Oral Health Foundation, Nigel Carter OBE, said: “This research is very important and gives people an opportunity to learn about what risks they face if they have HCV infection; by understanding the increased risks they can make sure they track the associated areas of their health more closely and take action if they need to.

“The more we learn about the relationship of other diseases to mouth cancer the more chance we can catch cases early and save lives; key to beating mouth cancer is early detection as it dramatically improves the chances of survival from 50 to 90 per cent.