5K Run/Walk for Oral Cancer Awareness

8th Annual 5k Run/2k Walk for Oral Cancer Awareness

The Northwest Indiana Dental Society is proud to host our
8th Annual 5k Run/2k Walk for Oral Cancer Awareness
at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Crown Point, Indiana on
Saturday, September 20, 2025.

Approximately 58,450 people in the US were diagnosed with some form of oral cancer in 2024. This has accounted for about 2.9% of all new cancer cases that year. While some think oral cancer is rare, mouth cancers will be newly diagnosed in about 145 new individuals each day in the US alone, and a person dies from oral cancer every hour of every day. When found at early stages of development, oral cancers can have an 80 to 90% survival rate. Late stage diagnosis is not occurring because most of these cancers are hard to discover, (though some like HPV origin disease have unique discovery issues), it is because of a lack of public awareness coupled with the lack of a national program for opportunistic screenings which would yield early discovery by medical and dental professionals.

It is one of the Northwest Indiana Dental Society's goals to increase public awareness of oral cancer symptoms and risk factors, to increase early detection.

It is because of the past support of the community of runners, walkers, dental members and sponsors, we have been able to donate over $33,000 to the Oral Cancer Foundation to support their advocacy efforts. We want to continue to be part of the change to increase the early diagnosis of oral cancer.

Please join us as a runner, walker or sponsor to help us increase awareness!

www.nids5k.com