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Are oral and dental diseases linked to cancer?
J H Meurman1, A Bascones-Martinez
1Institute of Dentistry, University of Helsinki, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Diseases, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. jukka.meurman@helsinki.fi
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.
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