Oral health and cancer

Researchers at the University of Helsinki, the Helsinki University Hospital, Finland and the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found evidence of how on a molecular level bacteria from periodontitis (Treponema denticola) is linked to cancer.  The researchers found an enzyme of the bacteria Treponema denticola also occurs in malignant tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, particularly in pancreatic cancer.  The study is published in the British Journal of Cancer.

In another study of 70,000 Finns over a 10 year period it was found that periodontitis is linked to cancer mortality.  An especially strong link to mortality associated with pancreatic cancer was found.  The study published in the International Journal of Cancer concluded that “low grade systemic inflammation related to periodontitis facilitates the spreading of oral bacteria and their virulence factors to other parts of the body.”