Decline of NHS dentists risks cancer deaths

Patient whose life was saved b check gives a dire warning to ministers

- MARTIN BAGOT

A MOUTH cancer patient whose life was saved by a dental check-up warns the collapse in NHS dentist access is costing lives.

Tony Page, 73, was referred to hospital in 2014 after his dentist spotted an abnormality in his mouth.

A hospital diagnosis soon followed.

Within six weeks cancerous parts of his tongue and jaw had been removed.

But now NHS dentist availability near Tony's home has vanished.