The campaign runs throughout November and aims to raise awareness of mouth cancer, the risks and symptoms, and encourages people to get any suspicious ulcers, red or white patches, or lumps checked out by a dentist.
After the success of last year’s Blue Lip Selfie campaign, Denplan has decided to run the campaign again and will be actively supporting member dental practices by giving them the tools to raise awareness of the campaign themselves.
“Cases of mouth cancer have increased by a third in the last decade and it’s one of the few cancers predicted to increase further in the coming years,” said Henry Clover, Deputy Chief Dental Officer at Denplan. “Dental teams can play a crucial role in detecting mouth cancer early and have a unique opportunity to raise awareness of the disease. We want to encourage all practices to take part in Mouth Cancer Action Month, so they can highlight the importance of ‘being Mouthaware’ to their patients and get everyone talking about mouth cancer and the importance of regular dental visits.”
Denplan has sent all member practices a poster, PR toolkit and a sheet of blue lip stickers so that they can support the campaign. To take part in Blue Lip Selfie all practices have to do is take a photo of themselves, their patients or their teams with blue lips and share it on Twitter or Instagram using the campaigns hashtag #BlueLipSelfie. Practices and patients can also directly upload a selfie to Denplan’s specially created microsite and gallery at www.bluelipselfie.co.uk or customise their photo with fun blue cartoon lips using the app.
Henry Clover continued: “Practices can wear blue lips as a visible sign of their support for the mouth cancer campaign, which can help raise awareness and if wearing them in practice, can be a positive conversation starter. They can also share their photos on their social media sites. We saw hundreds of practices taking part last year, and we hope we will see even more this year.”
In addition to the official gallery, an informative video can also be found on Denplan’s microsite featuring case studies of people who have survived mouth cancer – due to their dentist spotting signs of the disease early.
Henry clover added: “Although most dentists will routinely check for oral cancer at every examination appointment, this may not always be clearly communicated to patients. Knowing that their dentist is proactively checking them for mouth cancer is extremely valuable to a patient, and demonstrates the time and value of each dental consultation. For anyone that might need a reminder, we’ve also produced a video which is a step by step guide on how you can talk your patients through a mouth cancer check – this can be found at www.denplan.co.uk/my-teeth/your-oral-health/mouth-cancer”
Nigel Carter, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation commented: “We are extremely grateful that Denplan is once again a key supporter of Mouth Cancer Action Month. With a joint approach from the dental profession we can all help raise public awareness of the signs and symptoms of mouth cancer and help ensure that every patient is checked for signs of the disease. This should increase the likelihood of the disease being detected early with treatment more likely to result in a positive outcome for the patient.”