Over 700 cases of Mouth, Head and Neck cancer will be diagnosed this year; Main risk factors of Mouth Cancer include Smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, poor diet and over exposure to sunlight or radiation; However, oral cancer can affect anybody at any stage of their lives. Speaking on ‘The Whole Tooth’ podcast series David Hickey says: “With mouth cancer in particular, you have a small window of opportunity, which closes very fast. I would very much recommend regular checks”

Only half of all dental student places offered to school leavers from Ireland or EEA countries despite the shortage of dentists in Ireland

We urge Minister Donnelly and HSE CEO, Bernard Gloster, to immediately implement a recruitment strategy which would improve the current employment levels in the public dental service and help reduce waiting lists among public patients. Irish dental patients are suffering the consequences of the wilful neglect of our public dental service which has seen a 23% decline in staffing levels versus a 20 to 50% increase in all other areas of our health service such as nursing, admin and doctor staffing levels.