This is fairly *old news*..
This is very old news. This was a topic of interest to me at least 15 years ago and before I retired. I have posted on here before about it years ago.
The original article linked to has a somewhat sensational headline with the comparison with cervical cancer, but doesn't really point out that cervical cancer is now a very rare cancer in the UK and will hopefully become even rarer as a result of that (but see later)
Mouth and 'throat' cancer is more common than cervical cancer but is still relatively rare and much less common than many others and for us men Prostate cancer is of much greater significance.
However the frightening statistic is the rate of increase of mouth and oropharyngeal cancer over the last 20 years, which is a staggering 103%. Most other cancers have either declined or remained stable. Mouth and throat cancers have always been considered lifestyle cancers and smoking is still the number one cause together with alcohol. There is some evidence of a familial disposition but this is not significant.
The reasons for this huge increase are not fully understood or explained but HPV is suggested as the culprit. It is believed that around 75% of those cancers affecting the oropharynx are HPV related but overall with mouth and throat cancer, tobacco is still the leading risk factor but the gap is closing.
Exposure to HPV is primarily due to oral sex, so the more exposure you have with multiple different partners increases you chances of contracting it but most of us will have come into contact with it. As others have said in most instances our body will clear it, but for some it struggle to do so and it leaves cells damaged and prone to cancerous changes. Once again this is not fully understood why this happens in some and not others and there are no predictors of who may be vulnerable. There may be a genetic predisposition?
Dentists are indeed best placed to screen for this and pick it up at an early stage and indeed they nave been doing this for many years, but this is still a rare cancer and a dentist may only detect this perhaps a couple of times in their career. Some never. Early detection as always generally links to a better survival rate, but the other aspect of this cancer is the location can have a huge effect on quality of life.
The other twist in the tail is that those cases where HPV is linked tend to have a better prognosis.
Some bedtime reading
External Link/Members OnlyExternal Link/Members OnlyExternal Link/Members OnlyFinally regarding the HPV vaccine this has been shown to be extremely effective and later versions cover HPV related to mouth and throat cancers, but after a good start vaccination has stalled and we have failed to reach the 90% figure to achieve herd immunity. During Covid the programme was disrupted, but also the negative impact of Covid vaccination is making many parents wary of other vaccinations. A case of watch this space?