The dentist using his cancer diagnosis to teach others how to spot the signs

A retired dentist from Aberdare is using his experience of being diagnosed with cancer to help teach dental students how to spot the signs of the disease.

Four years before he was due to retire, Bryan Webber was diagnosed with tonsil cancer.

"In December 2019, I felt a lump in my neck so I had a look in my mouth and things didn't look particularly good", said Bryan.

"I went to the doctor and they immediately send me for some scans. They did some tests and biopsies and diagnosed carcinoma of the tonsils."

As he was going through his treatment, Bryan posted pictures documenting his experience on Facebook.

Bryan Webber was diagnosed with cancer in December 2019 and began receiving treatment early in the following year. Credit: ITV Cymru Wales

"It was a difficult time", he explained.

"Pain, also psychologically, a lot of people with head and neck cancer really struggle psychologically.

"I'm a glass half-full person and so I got through that but it was quite a difficult time for everybody including the family."

Now in remission, he travels across the country to speak with new graduates about the importance of spotting changes in their patient’s mouth which could be signs of cancer.

"Obviously dentists know all about oral cancer but they don't usually know what the patient has to go through once they've referred them", said Bryan.

"So after they've referred them then that's probably the end until they see the patient coming back after they've finished their treatment with side effects like lack of saliva, sore tongue, sore mouth, various things like that."

After putting together a presentation based on his experience which he had documented online, Bryan was invited to speak to young dentists in Cardiff and has since travelled up to north Wales and Leeds to deliver talks.

He continued: "The feedback has been excellent. It's raising awareness of oral cancer and lots of dentists don't know what the patients go through after they've referred them.

"They don't understand what it's like for patients so it's been very informative for dentists.

"Dentists need to diagnose and they are all capable of doing that. They know what to look out for, they know their signs and then they send it down the pathway where the experts will take over.

"It's about the awareness of what the patients go through before they get cured or things get worse."

As part of Bryan's treatment, he was the first person to take part in a clinical trial at the Velindre Cancer Centre called PET-based Adaptive Radiotherapy Clinical Trial (PEARL) which aimed to make the recovery process easier.

Dr Tom Rackley hope PEARL will be able to treat patients will less long-term effects. Credit: ITV Cymru Wales

Dr Tom Rackley, a consultant clinical oncologist at Velindre Cancer Centre, said: "PEARL's focus is all about adaptive radiotherapy.

"People who have tongue, tonsil or soft palate cancer's tend to respond really well to radiotherapy, the problem is they tend to get some really significant side effects.

"They can find it really quite tough in the short and long term and that has a big impact on their quality of life."

He continued: "What we do know is that it does work so there's a real push in the research world to improve on that quality of life and those side effects."

PEARL differs from tradition radiotherapy, which targets a tumour and the surrounding area for the full duration of the treatment. The area that's exposed doesn't get any smaller, even when the tumour does.

During the clinical trial, the tumour is scanned regularly so the area which is targeted by the radiation shrinks with the tumour.

Dr Rackley added: "The hope is that we're not treating so much normal tissue and therefore there will be less long-term effects."

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