DT News - UK - Elvis tooth on display to promote mouth cancer awareness in UK

Dental Tribune International

Sun. 11 May 2014

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LONDON – In order to encourage patients to undergo free mouth cancer screening, a number of dentists across the UK will be displaying a dental crown of the famous musician and singer Elvis Presley through May. The crown belongs to a Canadian dentist who holds a small collection of celebrity teeth, including a tooth of Beatle John Lennon.

Throughout the month, each practice will be hosting an anterior tooth crown made for Elvis Presley together with a dental impression from the King. The events will also involve costumes and music.

Dr Michael Zuk purchased the crown in 2012 at an auction for £5,200.

Last year, Zuk helped the group of dentists to promote awareness of mouth cancer with free screenings. Patients who came to the dentists’ offices had the opportunity try on a necklace designed using John Lennon’s DNA, which was extracted from small parts of the tooth.

The dentist is currently in talks with a US dental cosmetic company that may be interested in purchasing the crown for a similar purpose, Zuk told Dental Tribune ONLINE.

According to the latest statistics provided by Cancer Research UK, about 6,500 new cases of oral cancer are diagnosed every year in the UK alone. While tobacco and alcohol use have been considered the major causal factors of the disease for many decades, a considerable number of oral cancer cases are increasingly associated with the human papillomavirus. The virus can be transmitted by oral and other kinds of sex, and is responsible for the vast majority of cervical cancers too.

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