Good Oral Health Can Reduce Cancer Risk Improve Overall Health: AIIMS Delhi Study

Oral healthcare plays a significant role in enhancing health-related outcomes, including those associated with cancer, researchers from AIIMS Delhi said, underscoring the necessity of integrating oral care practices not only at the primary level but throughout all health management.

- Press Trust Of India

Emerging evidences indicate that poor oral health is closely associated with several health problems, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, adverse pregnancy outcomes and Alzheimer's disease, oncologists Dr Abhishek Shankar and Dr Vaibhav Sahni from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi said in an article published in The Lancet Regional Health - Southeast Asia earlier this month.

Oral hygiene has been implicated in cancer risk and its prediction, particularly in head and neck cancers (HNC).

The current literature also suggests a link between periodontal disease, also known as gum disease, and cancers of the digestive tract, prostate, breast, pancreas, oropharynx, uterus, and lungs.

The international head and neck cancer epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium, through a pooled analysis of 13 studies involving 12,527 controls and 8,925 HNC cases, reported that good oral hygiene (defined by annual dental visits, fewer missing teeth and daily tooth-brushing) was associated with a modest reduction in the risk of HNC, the researchers said.

Presence of pathogenic oral bacteria such as Porphyromonas gingivalis and Prevotella intermedia has been shown to elevate cancer incidence and adversely affect overall survival whether with specific-cancer or disease-free, they said.