Young people who believe oral sex is safe sex risk contracting mouth cancer, a Derry dentist has warned.
Peter Hughes of Quayside Dental Care was speaking during oral cancer awareness week.
He revealed the "frightening facts" that mouth cancer kills one person every three hours in the UK and that there are three times more new cases than cervical can
cer.
The latest studies show that the disease is affecting younger people as well as those with healthy lifestyles - 25% of new cases were healthy people with no 'high risk' habits.
Mr. Hughes explained: "High risk habits are smoking, drinking (especially worse when the two are combined), oral sex (mostly women), harmful UV light, sun beds and improper use of sun screen and poor diet."
He added: "The newest and most alarming trend though is the increase in the number of young people who have all the high risk factors and because oral sex is seen by some as safe sex, more young women are at much higher risk from oral cancer.
"The researchers believe this is because oral sex may transmit human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus implicated in the majority of cervical cancer, people infected with HPV were 32 times more likely to have this cancer."
As mouth cancer is usually painless and invisible to the naked eye in the early stages, Mr. Hughes believes "regular screening with your dentist is crucial".
He added: "A new advanced early screening method is now available - patients can improve chances of survival if the cancer is spotted early and treated rapidly."
Quayside Dental Care on the Strand Road is one of the few practices in the North to offer their patients oral cancer screening with a new state of the art early detection camera called a Velscope.
