Hundreds of people seeking free mouth checks for mouth, head and neck cancer have queued outside the Dublin dental hospital throughout the day.
Staff at the Dublin Dental University Hospital examined 750 people before lunch and expected to see more in the afternoon.
Dublin Dental University Hospital and Cork University Dental Hospital have offered the checks for free and without appointment to members of the public today. The one day initiative is part of mouth, head and neck cancer awareness day.
The day was “hugely important” in raising awareness of the cancers which have “largely gone unnoticed” said Prof June Nunn of Dublin Dental School and Hospital.
Mouth, head and neck cancer kills more people then cervical cancer or Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but people are largely unaware of it, she added.
The hospital put in place a contingency plan to deal with the unexpected volume of patients. Some 50 to 60 dentist and dental nurses have been working on the examinations with some regular clinics cancelled to deal with examinations.
The main risk factors for mouth, head and neck cancers are drinking alcohol and smoking and a combination is “lethal” Prof Nunn said.
She advised people who were concerned about mouth, head and neck cancer who did not make today's clinic to visit their dentist or doctor.
Three people die from mouth head and neck cancers every week. and there are 400 new cases of the cancers detected each year. Early diagnosis can result in survival rates of over 80 per cent compared to 10 to 35 per cent for advanced cancer.
Visiting the hospital and meeting with survivors today Minister for Health Mary Harney described the initiative as “very important” because it was the first of its kind in the country. The cancer was very curable if picked up early, she added.
Fine Gael health spokesman Dr James Reilly said there needed to be more investment in prevention and said that awareness creation needed to continue.
Labour health spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan said she was “amazed” at volume of people turning up at the dental clinic .
One of the patients to be checked was Doreen Kearney from Drimnagh in Dublin. Ms Kearney queued for two hours to get her check and was prompted because she smokes 20 cigarettes a day.
“I don’t think we realise there is so much mouth cancer. We think of all other parts of the body but we don’t think about the mouth,” she said.
