(NYP) – Mouth cancer rates “have more than doubled in a generation,” according to a new awareness campaign by the Brit-based nonprofit Oral Health Foundation. Over the past 20 years, mouth cancer diagnoses have skyrocketed 135 percent in the UK. In 2018 alone, seven people died every day from the disease out of a total 8,337 patients in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
US rates are comparable: According to the Oral Cancer Foundation, there are about 54,000 Americans diagnosed with oral or oropharyngeal cancer (including the larynx) every year, with at least one patient dying per hour every day, causing approximately 13,500 deaths per year.
The hygiene advocacy group warned people to be aware of the causes of mouth cancer — primarily the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), drinking alcohol and smoking. Dr. Nigel Carter, chief executive of the OHF, told the Daily Mail, “While most cancers are on the decrease, cases of mouth cancer continue to rise at an alarming rate.” READ MORE
