Your mouth, your wellness mirror

New studies have linked poor oral hygiene to developing cancer later in life. Here's how you can address the common risk factors

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RAL HYGIENE, ONCE considered an afterthought when speaking of general health upkeep, is now emerging as a major health and wellbeing indicator, particularly in India. A recent study by scientists from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), published in The Lancet Regional Health, shows that poor oral hygiene is increasingly proving to be a probable cause of cancer later in life. In fact, up to 79% of patients presenting with oral cancer in India also had poor oral hygiene at the time of diagnosis, according to Dr Rishi Khosa, consultant, oral and maxillofacial surgery, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Mumbai.

Dr Abhishek Shankar and Dr Vaibhav Sahni, the oncologists leading the Lancet study, say that oral health is particularly pertinent in cancer therapy as well. A systematic review reveals that radiotherapy to the head and neck region significantly alters the oral microbiome, typically reducing beneficial bacteria, while increasing potentially harmful species, leading to post-radiotherapy complications.

A global crisis Poor oral hygiene can not only be the cause of head and neck cancers - but the oral bacteria present in the mouth may also be linked to cancers of the digestive tract, prostate, breast, pancreas, oropharynx, uterus, and lungs.

Another study in the journal, The Lancet Regional Health for South-East Asia, shows that oral health does not pose a public health concern in India alone, but in and around most of southeast Asia as well. Oral cancer is the second most common cancer in Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea.