Thanks for your posts they helped a lot. My husband had tooth removed at begining of year as he thought it was cutting into his cheek, we now know hat this abrasion was cancer. Dentist removed tooth, and niether cheek nor socket where tooth had been removed from healed. Over a period of 20 weeks he attended dentist and when pain was severe his gp, niether suspected anything. At the end of our tether we insisted that he be seen by an oral sugreon who subsequently diagnosed cancer. DH regularly attended the dentist, complained about the lesions in his mouth and all still undetected...why? Post diagnosis we were astounded to be told by dental clinic that it was not policy to screen nhs patients for cancer, even though we were private, coupled with the fact that I have a copy of the guidance material issued to all gb dentists on identifcation and referal of suspecious lesions to an oral consultant. By this scale my husband should have been refered by the second week automatically, not by the end of the 20th. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. We are angry and feel betrayed because this information is out there and many campagins do exist to inform us of the causes of oral cancer...just type it into utube to see some awful factual videos, but when those in charge of our care fail to recognise the symptoms we are in trouble. I don't know if our cancer had been caught earlier if it would have mattered much, but we'll never know. The campagin of awareness raising should be among our dentists and there should be a legal oblication for them to screen everyone. Sometimes I chuckle though because a family friend shares our dentist and apparently he makes such a fuss checking for abnormalities, she niether drinks nor smokes, I doubt very much after he has completed his check if he would spot anything...DH considered high risk, he smokes, but the gaping big hole and substanical lesion oh and a socket that didn't heal, never raised suspicion? Ce la vie mon cherie!