Premium
Are oral and dental diseases linked to cancer?
Author(s) -
Meurman JH,
BasconesMartinez A
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
oral diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.953
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1601-0825
pISSN - 1354-523X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1601-0825.2011.01837.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cancer , disease , carcinogenesis , oral cancers , oral infection , inflammation , immunology , pathology
Oral Diseases (2011) 17 , 779–784 Objective: Infection and inflammation play a role in carcinogenesis, and highly prevalent oral and dental diseases have been significantly linked to some types of cancer. This article reviews current literature in this area. Materials and Methods: Open literature review using the PubMed database and focused on publications from 2000 to 2010. Results: Numerous potential mechanisms are implicated in the oral disease/carcinogenesis paradigm, including infection‐ and inflammation‐associated cell pathology and microbial carcinogen metabolism. Poor oral hygiene is associated with oral cancer, but there is also evidence of a possible link between oral or dental infections and malignancies in general. Conclusion: Oral infections may trigger malignant transformation in tissues of the mouth and other organs. However, scientific evidence to date remains weak and further well‐conducted studies are warranted before cancer can be properly added to the list of oral infection‐related systemic diseases.