Open Wide and look for cancer symptoms - but suppose you can't find a dentist?

2.03.39pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 10th Nov 2006

Councillor David Ward, Chair of the Bradford North Area Committee is urging residents to take advantage of the information stands and free check ups available during Mouth Cancer Awareness Week.

He said, " I am very glad to see the publicity being given to Mouth Cancer Awareness Week and would urge people to take advantage of the free check ups and the phone lines to the Oral Health Promotion Units .

But I am also very concerned that the advice about visiting the dentist if you have any of the symptoms listed, is going to be next to impossible for many people in Bradford.

The shortage of NHS dentists means that about 50% of people in the district are not registered with a dentist even though many of them would like to be.

Regular check ups by the dentist would surely catch mouth cancer symptoms early and make treatment more likely to be successful.

It is a scandal that people in Bradford are being denied this vital care. "