News

The latest news, articles and opinions from Alastair

Latest News

“Woman’s life saved by routine trip to dental hygienist”

A simple routine visit to her dental hygienist ended up saving Helen’s life.

According to the article in Wales Online, Doctors did an MRI scan and discovered early-stage mouth cancer. Thanks to the early Stage 1 diagnosis, Helen avoided chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but required a considerable amount of surgery from Alastair and his team to put Helen on the road to recovery.

As Alastair himself says in the article, “Sometimes patients can incorrectly attribute problems in the mouth to dental infections. It’s important to get checked if you have a lump, ulcer or patch in the mouth that lasts longer than two weeks.”

You can read about Helen’s remarkable and successful cancer journey on Wales Online.

Sonya’s remarkable mouth cancer story

Sonya’s Story

Sonya was diagnosed with mouth cancer after experiencing a painful mouth ulcer that wasn’t healing.

She had major head and neck surgery with free flap reconstruction by Alastair at The Cromwell hospital.

Here she is, speaking just a few months later.


Sonya talks about her mouth cancer journey and treatment under Alastair and The Cromwell Hospital.

Using 3D printing to help with jaw operations

From the Cromwell Hospital, here is a short video in which Alastair describes how the latest 3D printing technology enables his team to visualise, plan, treat and reconstruct a lower jaw following a tumour diagnosis.

3D Printing allows him to not only make an accurate model of the jaw and tumour, but also the stents and cutting guides required to reconstruct the jaw, so that it is returned to as close to its original state as possible.


Mr Fry explains how a 3D printed mandible is taken from a patient’s CT scans, in order to help treat a lower jaw tumour.

Site updates for 2025

As 2025 arrives, we thought we’d announce several recent updates to the site…

Firstly, we’ve added a significant number of new testimonials that Alastair and his team have received since the last update. They’re still just as glowing and appreciative as ever, but now they are right up to date! Going forward, we’ll be taking a more proactive approach, and adding more testimonials throughout 2025 as we receive them.

For those of you who have taken the time to give Alastair and the team your kind words, thank you very much – it is truly appreciated.

Secondly, we’ve added a page about Alastair’s Second Opinion service. As Alastair himself says, when it comes to cancer treatments the first chance is your best chance, so if you’ve recently received a related diagnosis but are not yet certain of your next steps, then a second opinion could prove invaluable to putting you on the path to recovery.