The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7422 p457
14 October 2006

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Increasing mouth cancer awareness

Mouth Cancer Awareness Week runs from 12–18 November. The British Dental Health Foundation suggests how pharmacists can get involved

Mouth cancer kills one person every five hours in the UK and the number of new cases is increasing. The disease kills half of all sufferers but, with early detection, nine out of 10 people survive. Mouth Cancer Awareness Week is a not for profit campaign co-ordinated by the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF) and supported by a wide range of leading health organisations.

Advice in the pharmacy

The aim is to increase the public’s knowledge of the main risk factors for and symptoms of mouth cancer. Pharmacists are in an excellent position to do this when they advise on problems, such as mouth ulcers, and smoking cessation. Smoking and drinking alcohol to excess are the main causes of mouth cancer and, if a person does both, they are up to 30 times more likely to develop the condition. A poor diet is also a contributory factor. The main symptoms of mouth cancer are a non-healing mouth ulcer or a red or white patch in the mouth. Customers who have had an oral problem for more than three weeks should be advised to visit their dentist or GP.

To help pharmacies increase awareness of mouth cancer, the BDHF has produced a Mouth Cancer Awareness Week information guide. This contains extensive information on the condition, ideas for raising awareness and a list of other useful resources (see Panel).

Blue ribbons

In 2005, the BDHF launched the Blue Ribbon Badge Campaign in the run-up to Mouth Cancer Awareness Week. For the first time, the BDHF made enamel badges and collection boxes freely available to health professionals working to raise awareness of the condition. Members of the public were encouraged to donate £1 per badge to help meet the foundation’s costs. The results were staggering: 40,000 badges were distributed.

Promoting awareness of mouth cancer costs the BDHF over £120,000 each year — a large sum for a small charity. Thanks to other fund-raising campaigns and the support of corporate partners, such as Superdrug, which put collection boxes in its pharmacies, we are able to meet most of these costs. However, with support from more pharmacies, we could do more and we are inviting pharmacists to get involved in this year’s campaign.

The sale of just 14,000 badges would pay for a specialist counsellor to provide information and support to mouth cancer victims and their families. A further 20,000 badges would enable the BDHF to reach an additional 10 million people with awareness information.

The BDHF would also like to introduce a mouth cancer awareness roadshow, in which a special bus would tour the country, providing local people with vital information on mouth cancer, while also raising awareness of the condition.

When people purchase a badge, they are supporting mouth cancer awareness in two ways — by making a donation and by promoting awareness.

Displays

Pharmacies can also contribute by setting up a display to attract attention and to provide information on mouth cancer. Posters promoting the key mouth cancer messages of the campaign are available free from the BDHF (see Panel below).

Other possible display materials include:

· “Tell me about mouth cancer” patient information leaflets, which provide clear, easy to understand information on mouth cancer in a question and answer format (£12.50 for 100)

· Information leaflets on “Mouth ulcers’ and “Smoking and oral health”

· An official campaign T-shirt — using this as staff uniform during Mouth Cancer Awareness Week could really help to raise awareness among customers (£5.99 each)

· An inflatable “cigarette” (over one metre long) with “Quit smoking” and “No smoking” messages on the side and hanging clips and cords to allow for simple display (£8.25)

If a pharmacy can spare a member of staff to distribute leaflets and encourage patients to make a donation in return for a blue ribbon badge, the information is likely to be much more wide-reaching.