When Peter Young, 67, was interviewed by his local news station, the BBC, he was emotional to see himself on television.
However, he didn’t know that the conversation would change his life.
Peter, from Blackpool, is a professional tribute artist to the late American rock star Meat Loaf.
For the past two decades, she has made a living dressing up and performing the singer’s hits like I’d Do Anything for Love.
So when Meat Loaf, whose real name was Michael Lee Aday, died in January 2021, BBC Look North contacted Peter to get his reaction.
“I was honored to be asked,” Peter says. “I did the interview over Zoom and didn’t say anything else about it afterward.”
“But later that day, when I looked at myself on TV, I saw a pronounced gap in the bottom row of my teeth that I hadn’t noticed before.”
Peter Young is a Meat Loaf tribute band and will play their first show since his diagnosis next year.
Peter’s first thought was not for his health, but for his career. “I was very conscious that if I could see the emptiness, the audience would see it when I performed.
‘However, I was going on holiday to Cyprus so I didn’t have time to go to the dentist in the UK. Instead, I went to see a dentist while I was in Cyprus and asked if he could put implants in to fill the gap.
“She suggested I wait until I saw my dentist at home, and I’m so thankful I did.”
A week after returning from vacation, Peter saw a dentist, who was immediately concerned by what he saw.
But it wasn’t the gap that worried him, but the state of Peter’s gums.
“For a while, the skin around my top teeth was a bit loose,” Peter says. “It was a bit sensitive, but it never hurt, so I didn’t think much of it.”
‘But when the dentist saw this, he immediately went to seek a second opinion from his colleague.
They both agreed that it could be mouth cancer.
Every year, around 9,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with mouth cancer. The disease usually occurs on the tonsils, palate or tongue.
Cases have risen by more than a third in the past decade. Research suggests this is partly due to the fact that many Britons struggle to see an NHS dentist. Studies show that only 40 per cent of people have visited a health service dentist in the past two years. A quarter have tried and failed.
A dentist became concerned about his gums and referred him to hospital. He was later diagnosed with mouth cancer and underwent surgery.
Experts say this means the country’s dental health is in worse shape than it was a decade ago, increasing the risk of infections and inflammation that can trigger cancer.
Worryingly, the number of deaths from oral cancer has risen by 46 per cent in the past decade to more than 3,000, partly due to the fact that patients do not visit the dentist regularly, meaning early signs of the disease are missed.
The same thing happened to Peter.
After visiting the dentist, he was referred to Blackpool Victoria Hospital, where a biopsy was performed and a doctor gave Peter the official diagnosis: stage 4 mouth cancer, the most advanced possible.
The cancer was in the palate, which caused the gum problems.
For Peter, the news came as a shock.
“I had never thought about oral cancer,” she says. “No one in my family had suffered from the disease, so I didn’t think it was something I had to worry about.”
“When I asked the doctor if it had been detected in time, he simply said ‘no.'”
“I told him I sang for a living and he said he didn’t think I could do it again. That devastated me and I broke down on the spot.”
Peter was taken straight to the operating room, where he underwent a procedure that lasted almost 12 hours to remove the cancer.
The singer noticed he had a gap between his teeth while watching a video of himself
Surgeons then had to painstakingly reconstruct her mouth, using skin from her wrist and nerves from her arm.
Fortunately, the operation was a success. After months of rehabilitation, Peter decided that his voice was strong enough to return to the stage.
Peter and his band will take to the stage at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens in May next year for his first gig with his band since his devastating diagnosis.
“My voice is better than ever now,” Peter says. “The only thing is that I weigh 2-3 kilos less now.”
Peter has no doubt that his appearance on television saved him.
‘If it hadn’t been for that tribute interview on January 20, I wouldn’t have realized the problem with my teeth that led to the shocking diagnosis.
“Apart from a dull ache and feeling a little bit of skin on my gum, I didn’t have any major symptoms and didn’t feel really bad. It was only when I saw myself singing that I realised something was wrong.”
Experts say mouth cancer is often difficult to detect at first glance.
“In most cases, cancer is painless so patients are unaware of the problem,” said Professor Michaelina Macluskey, a head and neck cancer expert at the University of Dundee’s School of Dentistry.
‘And it’s often difficult for patients to fully examine their own mouths, as it can develop in hard-to-see areas.’
For this reason, Professor Maccluskey advises people to look out for ulcers that persist for more than three weeks, white or red patches on the gums or in the mouth, a lump inside the mouth that does not shrink and is not painful, as well as loose teeth and altered sensation in the gums.
Other signs to look out for include difficulty swallowing, unexplained bleeding, lumps in the neck, unexplained weight loss, changes in voice quality, and limited jaw movement.
Peter says he now encourages everyone he knows to get an oral exam.
“When I was young I didn’t go to the dentist much and now I regret it,” he says.
“I only went when I had a problem, like a toothache.”