Sir, following an article in the BDJ,1 as a general dental practitioner attempting to apply defined, repeatable and predictable techniques to my patient examination and management, I have devised a mnemonic (with peer review strongly encouraged) for use when describing oral lesions especially in reference to early recognition of oral cancer as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1
figure 1

Mnemonic for use when describing oral lesions

Full size image

As identified in the article,1 urgent development is required in both public and professional awareness and knowledge, preventive strategies and tools for earlier diagnosis. This system, if given broad exposure (and amended appropriately following peer review if necessary), has the potential to deliver on the latter three points and, hopefully, go some way to reducing the burden of mouth cancer in the UK.