Link found between periodontal disease and cancer

periodontal disease and cancer

Flossing doesn’t just fight cavities — it helps a great deal in evading cancer.

There has been a new study in The Lancet Oncology which stated that men who suffered from periodontal disease are at a higher risk of cancer than those who do not have periodontal disease.

The study was conducted in America and involved nearly 48,000 American men aged 40 to 75. These men participated in the Health Professionals Follow-Up study. The study did not include findings from women or other populations.

Strong affiliation of periodontal disease and cancer

As per the article one big reason for the affiliation is that people with gum infections stand a strong chance of inflammation, but the “exact link, if at all, between gum disease and cancer remains unclear.”

There were other risk factors which were considered or taken into account. These factors included smoking and diet and the researchers found that men who previously suffered from periodontal disease had a 14 percent higher risk of developing cancer compared with men who never suffered from it.

14 percent higher risk of developing cancer

Although the total risk of getting affected by cancer was 14 percent, there are several cancers which carried a 30 percent or more risk. For example, according to the study, men who suffered from periodontal disease had a 36 percent increased risk of lung cancer, a 49 percent increased risk of getting affected by kidney cancer, a 54 percent higher risk of getting affected by pancreatic cancer and a 30 percent increased risk of getting affected by white blood cell cancers.

Conclusion

Lastly the study noted that the relation between periodontal disease and lung cancer vanished among men who had never been smokers, but men with periodontal disease who did not smoke still had a 35 percent increased risk for blood cancers and a 21 percent overall increased risk for cancer.