This Burgess Hill dentists is offering free mouth cancer screenings

According to Gateway Dental in Burgess Hill, 2,722 people in the UK died from mouth cancer last year.

A spokesman for the dentists in Station Road said: "The vast majority of Brits simply do not know enough about the disease, yet the good news is that it can often be diagnosed early through a simple, painless, and quick screening.

"Every adult should get a check-up, as mouth cancer can often be caught early.

"When found early, mouth cancers have a 90 per cent survival rate and the side effects of the subsequent treatment are the lowest."

Risk factors include long term use of tobacco and alcohol, as well as exposure to the human papilloma virus which is now the leading cause of oropharyngeal cancers worldwide, according to Gateway Dental.

They said: "Early indicators are red and/or white patches in the mouth and on the tongue, any ulcer which does not heal after three weeks, and a hoarse voice that lasts for a prolonged period of time.

"Advanced indicators are a feeling that something is stuck in your throat, numbness in the mouth, difficulty in moving the jaw or tongue, difficulty in swallowing, earache that occurs on one side only, and a lump or thickening that develops in the mouth or on the neck."

To book your free mouth cancer screening on Monday, November 18, call Gateway Dental on 01444 232188.

For more information about mouth cancer, please visit The Mouth Health Foundation’s website.

The Mouth Cancer Foundation is encouraging individuals to check themselves for mouth cancer through the Bite Back at Mouth Cancer self check initiative which can be found here.