Cancer is a condition that’s caused by body cells reproducing uncontrollably. You could be at risk of deadly mouth cancer if you develop a number of key warning signs inside your mouth. Are you at risk?
Cancer is diagnosed in half of all people in the UK at some point in their lifetime, according to the NHS.
The most common types of cancer include breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, and bowel cancer.
There are more than 200 different types of cancer, and they each cause a variety of different symptoms.
A cancer could develop inside the mouth – a condition that’s also known as oral cancer.
READ MORE: Mouth ulcers – when a sore could be a sign of cancer
The ulcer is more likely to be caused by mouth cancer if it’s not very painful.
Some patients have also reported having difficulty swallowing, he added.
“Nothing can replace a dental check-up as a highly effective means of cancer screening,” he told Express.co.uk.
“Other symptoms that would be worth consulting your dentist or GP about include unexplained looseness of teeth, development of severe gum bleeding, numbness in lip or tongue, lumps in mouth or neck, [and] increasing hoarseness.”
Mouth cancer is the sixth most common cancer to be diagnosed in the world.
But, in the UK, it’s much less common, with around 8,300 new cases every year.
Around two-thirds of all of mouth cancers develop in people over the age of 55.
Men are much more likely to develop mouth cancer than women; possibly because men drink more alcohol than women, on average.