Is there scope for providing oral cancer health advice in dental access centres?

There are more than 3,500 new cases of oral cancer each year in the UK. The purpose of this study was to establish the proportion of patients attending a dental access centre that are at risk of developing oral cancer because of lifestyle habits, and in turn determine whether access centres are a suitable location for the provision of advice on smoking cessation and alcohol consumption.

Data were collected prospectively about the smoking and drinking habits of patients attending a dental access centre in Nottingham. Three hundred and fifty-nine patients attended the dental access centre during the survey period. Patients were categorised into one of four groups ranging from low risk to high risk, according to their smoking history and alcohol intake.

More than 50% of patients attending the dental access centre were smokers, with almost 40% of the patients in high or very high tobacco and alcohol use groups. The majority of attendees were under 45 years of age.

Significant numbers of patients attending the dental access centre have lifestyle habits that make them vulnerable to oral cancer. Dental access centres could usefully provide opportunistic health messages to patients about risk factors in the development of oral cancer.