‘My dentist’s mouth cancer training saved my life’

The Oral Health Foundation said that cases of mouth cancer have hit a record high, with 10,825 new diagnoses in 2024.

The charity’s latest report stated that more than half of cases were caught at the cancer’s most advanced stages, and there were 3,337 deaths.

Mr Butler, who is now 39, said his dentist’s referral had been “precautionary”.

He added: “I didn’t know what the future was going to hold. I didn’t know whether I was going to be able to eat or speak again, or if I’d even still be here.

“It was hard. It sounds daft, but when I got told, I didn’t think it was possible to get cancer in the mouth.”

The ulceration was removed at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital along with a third of his tongue, lymph nodes in one side of his neck, and some of his teeth. He also had to undergo chemotherapy and radiotherapy at Weston Park Cancer Centre.

“I was quite lucky from the point of view of the circumstances that led to it being found.

“I think without being at that dentist on that particular day, seeing that particular dentist, I wouldn’t be here.”