Oral Hygiene A Must To Keep Cancer At Bay - Study

The age old belief that healthy teeth and gums are the key to a healthy body is proving to be true today, with research indicating a 14% greater risk of cancerdefine in people with unhealthy gums.

Gum diseases have earlier been linked to various physiological problems like digestive troubles, dental ailments like - bleeding gums, bad breath and cavities and even in some cases, heart troubles too.

However, a recent study published in Lancet Oncology suggested a link found between gum troubles and cancerdefine. The study suspects general body inflammation caused by unhealthy gums to be the reason for tumor growth in the body resulting in cancers.

It is long known that unhealthy teeth and gums further weaken the immune systemdefine. The researchers are not ignoring this possibility too, as one of the contributing factors towards cancer taking roots in the body.

The study which began in 1986 had US male professionals between the age group of 40 to 75 as the focus group. The study lasted a total of 17.7 years and was conducted on 48,375 men. The parameters for research included, gum diseases, bone/ tooth loss in the previous two years, smoking and diet. Health and lifestyle too were under consideration for the research.

Out of the 48,375 men, 5.720 were diagnosed with cancer over the years. The cancers found in these men ranged from prostrate cancer, to malignant skin cancer, lung, bowel and bladderdefine cancer.

According to the study, men with a history of gum disease showed the following risk tendencies for the different cancers detected as compared to those without any gum problems–
Lung cancer – 36%
Kidney cancer – 49%
Pancreatic cancer – 54%
WBC cancer - 30%

In addition to these findings it was also seen that men having almost half their teeth missing were at 70% greater risk of developing cancer as the years passed by.

"Men with history of periodontal disease had a 14 percent higher risk of cancer than those who did not have periodontal disease, and the increase persisted among never smokers," said lead researcher Dominique Michaud, a cancer epidemiologist at Imperial College London, in the U.K.

Despite the fact that the research was performed on men the possibility of women showing similar responses can not be ruled out.

Dr Michaud also said: "The findings suggest dental and oral health is more significant to overall health than we thought in the past."