Source: nursingtimes.netAuthor: Staff  “Experts warn using mouthwash more than twice a day can give you cancer,” the Daily Mirror reports. The news comes from a European study that examined the oral health and dental hygiene of people diagnosed with cancers of the mouth, throat, vocal chords or oesophagus (collectively called “upper aerodigestive cancers”). The researchers found that people with the poorest oral health (including wearing dentures and bleeding gums) had a more than doubled risk of these cancers compared with those with the best oral health. Similarly, they found that those with the poorest dental care (including frequency of tooth brushing and visiting the dentist) had a more than double risk compared with those with the best dental care. Importantly, these associations remained after adjustment for smoking and alcohol consumption – established risk factors for these cancers – and for other factors that may influence risk, such as socioeconomic status. But despite the Mirror’s headline, the link between oral cancer and mouthwash is less clear. The association was only significant when looking at very frequent use (three times a day). Very few people used mouthwash this frequently, which decreases the reliability of this risk estimate. There is certainly no credible evidence that mouthwash “can give you cancer”. Even if there is a true link, it is unclear whether it is mouthwash itself (the alcohol content) or the reasons it is being used, such as poor oral hygiene, that are responsible for the association. The results do suggest a link between poor dental hygiene and [...]