Rates of mouth cancer increase to all time high

The alarming findings show that around 20 people every day are being diagnosed with mouth cancer, equating to around one every 72 minutes – less time than it takes to play a game of rugby.

Mouth cancer is now the 10th most common cancer in men in the UK and 15th most common in women, overall mouth cancer is the 14th most common cancer in Britain but if current trends continue is on track to rapidly move up the list.

Mouth cancer in the UK has increased by around a third (34 per cent) in the last decade alone and by more than four-fifths (83 per cent) since the late 1970s.

The dramatic increase has been put down to changes in the prevalence of oral cancer risk factors such as alcohol consumption, tobacco use (smoking and smokeless) and human papilloma virus (HPV) infection, which can be transmitted through oral sex.

Speaking on the announcement Nigel Carter OBE, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, said: “These findings are extremely worrying, especially when you consider that over 90 per cent of mouth cancer cases are entirely preventable.