Isle of Wight dentist and former president of the Mouth Cancer Foundation, Dr Philip Lewis, received his MBE from Princess Royal, Princess Anne, at Windsor Castle last Wednesday (25th September).
He received the honour in recognition of services to oral cancer.
Through Philip’s work as a dentist and being involved with the Mouth Cancer Foundation since the charity’s inception 20 years ago, he has been dedicated to raising awareness, educating and promoting the early detection of mouth cancer as well as supporting those affected by it.
Philip, who owns the Avenue Road Dental Practice in Freshwater, says:
“This award is in recognition of over 30 years of campaigning to raise awareness of all head and neck cancers and encourage the dental profession to carry out thorough oral cancer checks on all patients at annual routine appointments. As a Trustee and Past President of the Mouth Cancer Foundation I have also been involved in devising a self-check which the general public can carry out on themselves.
“We have come a long way since I very first started raising awareness of head and neck cancers. Dentists took some convincing to carry out checks on patients and often members of the public were unaware cancer existed in the mouth until someone close to them was diagnosed. When I used to lecture many years ago, I would be talking to a handful of people. Now my lectures are packed out with the profession wanting to learn as much as possible about oral cancer. So, progress is being made”.
During his time as President of the Mouth Cancer Foundation, Philip really grew the charity, which continues to go from strength to strength with patients, carers and survivors at the heart of all activities. A large part of the charity’s remit today is also educating dental and medical professionals on the early detection of head and neck cancers.
