Sir, with reference to the paper An audit of the UK national cancer referral guidelines for suspected oral mucosa malignancy (BDJ2006; 201: 643–647), it must be recognised that patients have the right to read professional correspondence which relates to them and their condition.
The mention of the word 'cancer' causes fear and anxiety which are not helped by the fact that the statistics of the referrals show that most of the lesions are found not to be cancerous and that a patient may claim that they have undergone unnecessary worry and act accordingly.
It must also be recognised that the diagnosis has to be made by the professional to whom the patient was referred and this takes time.
The referring general dental practitioner must, therefore, be very careful to explain the need for referral to the patient in their own particular way so that the patient will not feel misled if the outcome is non-malignant.
