Regular dental visits linked to increased survival rate for head, neck cancer patients
Source: www.health.com Author: Kaitlin Sullivan Good oral hygiene could help your chance of survival from head or neck cancer, a new study finds.1 Going to the dentist isn’t just to make your teeth look better—maintaining oral hygiene can impact a variety of overarching health factors. Among them, head and neck cancer. Head and neck cancers include cancers of the throat, mouth, oral cavity, voice box, paranasal sinuses and nasal cavity, neck, and salivary glands. These cancers account for about 4% of cancer diagnoses and deaths in the United States.2 A new study found people who have better oral hygiene in the years before developing cancer may be better off in the long run. According to Jason Tasoulas, MD, DMD, the study’s lead author and a post-doctoral research fellow in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, visiting the dentist at least every two years is the most important oral hygiene habit when it comes to head and neck cancers. “People who regularly have dentist appointments are more likely to have their cancer detected early,” he told Health, noting that catching cancer early is crucial for outcomes, since cancer that is detected early, before it’s spread, is easier to treat. Routine Dental Visits Contribute to Catching Cancer Early For the new study, Tasoulas and team looked at four studies that together included nearly 2,500 people from eight countries. All had been diagnosed with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. [...]