Chronic Gum Disease Associated With Tongue Cancer

Men with chronic gum disease may have an increased risk of tongue cancer, regardless of whether they smoke, according to an article summarized in Science Daily. The authors noted that considerable evidence associates chronic infections, both viral and bacterial, and persistent inflammation, with increased cancer risk. The gum disease periodontitis is an oral infection thought to be caused by bacteria, though recent evidence suggests the involvement of viruses as well. 

Mine Tezal, DDS, PhD, and colleagues at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute (Buffalo, NY) investigated the association of periodontitis with tongue cancer by comparing 51 white men with tongue cancer to 54 white men without tongue cancer, all of whom were treated at the cancer institute between 1999 and 2005. Periodontitis was assessed in panoramic x-rays of the mouth by calculating the amount of alveolar bone loss, an established measure of the disease’s history and progression. The researchers found that alveolar bone loss was significantly higher in cancer cases compared with controls. After adjusting for the effects of age, smoking status, and the number of teeth, each millimeter of alveolar bone loss was significantly associated with a 5.23-fold increase in the risk of tongue cancer. Other oral variables such as caries, fillings, crowns, and root canal treatment were not significantly associated with the risk for tongue cancer. 

Periodontal microorganisms could be toxic to surrounding cells and produce changes that lead directly to oral cancer or could indirectly contribute to cancer through inflammation, according to the authors. Their data is preliminary and suggests an in-dependent association between a history of periodontitis and the risk of tongue cancer. This association needs to be confirmed by larger studies that include other oral cancer sites, women, and subjects of other races with a more comprehensive assessment of factors such as lifelong tobacco use, they write. If this association is confirmed, it has a potential im-pact on understanding the etiology of oral cancer as well as on its prevention and control, the authors state. 

More than 7,300 Americans died from oral cancer in 2006, according to the background information in this article.