Links between gum disease and cancer

Data collected during a long-term health study provides additional evidence for a link between increased risk of cancer in individuals with advanced gum disease, according to a new collaborative study led by epidemiologists Dominique Michaud at Tufts University School of Medicine and Elizabeth Platz of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Kimmel Cancer Center.

Researchers used data from comprehensive dental exams performed on many participants from Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, and North Carolina, as part of their participation in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study who were then followed from the late 1990s until 2012.

 During the follow-up period, 1,648 new cancer cases were diagnosed. The research team found a 24 percent increase in the risk of developing cancer among participants with severe periodontitis, compared to those with mild to no periodontitis at baseline.

Among patients who had no teeth-which can be a sign of severe periodontitis, the increase in risk was 28 percent. The highest risk was observed in cases of lung cancer, followed by colorectal cancer. When the researchers did sub-group analyses, they found that participants with severe periodontal disease had more than double the risk of developing lung cancer, compared with no periodontitis.

An 80 percent increase in risk of colon cancer observed for participants who were edentulous at baseline, which is consistent with prior findings, and among never smokers, a two-fold higher risk was noted for participants with severe periodontitis, compared to those who had no periodontitis.

The research team accounted for the impact of smoking among the participants, since people who smoke are more likely to get periodontal disease, and smoking raises the risk of lung and colon cancers. Looking at data for the people who had never smoked, they also found evidence that having severe periodontal disease was related to an increased risk of lung cancer and colorectal cancer.

The researchers found no links between increased risk of breast, prostate or blood/lymphatic cancer and periodontitis. The link between periodontitis and increased cancer risk was weaker or not apparent in African-American participants from the ARIC study, except in cases of lung and colorectal cancer. Advanced gum disease-periodontitis, is caused by bacterial infection that damages the soft tissue and bone that support the teeth.
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