Oral cancer rates are on the rise, with women under the age of 45 particularly at risk. For this cohort, cases of tongue cancer are increasing by about 4 per cent every year according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Health experts don't know what is causing the rise but are calling for more training to help health professionals detect the disease earlier.
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00:00 It's still something that is quite rare in our community and it's typically in blokes
00:06 over 60 and related to cigarette smoking, alcohol and a virus called HPV, which we're
00:13 now getting vaccinated against.
00:15 But the rise in women, we're actually unsure about, which is why more research is required.
00:23 And now the opportunity for us is to make sure that we raise awareness and get those
00:27 symptoms seen if people have concerns.
00:30 It's really a non-healing sore or a lump in people's tongue or mouth or on their lips.
00:36 And usually, you know, they will go by themselves within two to four weeks, but if it persists
00:41 longer than that, and people can see patches on their mouth.
00:44 So red, you know, red or white patches that won't go if you scrape them off.
00:48 One of the challenges is often because they're painless and it's not in an area where people
00:52 actually look or see until there's been some bleeding or pain.
00:57 And it's raising awareness both for people, but also for GPs and dentists.
01:05 If people report these symptoms, be highly suspicious and make sure that they're followed
01:09 up because they do often present quite late in the picture.
01:14 It can also be linked to a virus called Epstein-Barr virus or EBV, which most people will get at
01:20 some stage in their lives, but we still don't know the links between the causes and also
01:27 those other factors, like I mentioned, that are traditionally thought to trigger oral
01:31 cancers such as smoking and alcohol.
01:36 What needs to happen now is increased research, and that's what's happening, and raise awareness
01:40 amongst our population and our GPs and dentists so that young women, you know, when they do
01:46 present late, the treatment can be quite catastrophic and treating early, we know has really good outcomes.
01:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]