The number of people that have been diagnosed with oral cancer is on the increase in central Leeds which rather makes the disease difficult to isolate and cure altogether. A lot of the reasons only seem to be conjecture as it can strike one person and not another, even if they live identical lives. Yet, the way some of us live our lives has been considered to be conducive to the disease; our dietary habits, stress, poor oral hygiene, smoking and drinking- all of which are considered to be contributory to the problem, and if we tend to be care-free and lazy, we’d probably overlook issues in the mouth until it was too late- which is the most important element in fighting the disease- early diagnosis. We should know when something feels or tastes ‘off’ in the mouth and should get any problem looked at immediately, things like repetitive sore throats and ulcers, neck and ear aches, sores on the lips. It is so easy to get checked out, all you need to do is get down to the dentists or the doctors and after a few tests, a diagnosis can be made. If your worst fears are realised, then deciding on how advanced the problem is, you will have either of three types of surgery, radio, chemotherapy or physical surgery in order to remove the problem. It won’t be easy and the recovery period will be a delicate time- things will have to change, possibly the way you live your whole life, but a lot more people are coming through this illness smiling and with a lot of care and support, oral cancer can be beaten