Gum disease may raise cancer risk, study finds

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Gum disease may increase the risk of developing cancer, researchers said on Tuesday.

Male health professionals with a history of gum disease in a long-running study had a 14 percent higher overall risk of developing cancer, they said.

"After controlling for smoking and other risk factors, periodontal disease was significantly associated with an increased risk of lung, kidney, pancreatic and hematological (blood) cancers," Dr. Dominique Michaud of the Imperial College London and colleagues wrote in the journal Lancet Oncology.

This higher overall risk persisted even in people who had never smoked.

Gum or periodontal disease is an infection of the tissues surrounding and supporting the teeth. Prior studies have suggested people with periodontal disease are more likely to develop heart disease and diabetes.

People with gum disease have inflammation in their blood and inflammation also has been linked with cancer. But this could simply mean that whatever causes the inflammation may also cause gum disease and cancer. Michaud and colleagues wanted to see if gum disease increases the risk of cancer.

They used data from a large study of male doctors and other health professionals aged 40 to 75. The study was started in 1986 at Harvard University.

Nearly 50,000 men filled out health surveys and were followed for more than 17 years. The survey included information on gum disease and bone loss as well as number of teeth and tooth loss.

More than 5,700 of the men developed cancer, excluding cases of non-melanoma skin cancers and non-aggressive prostate cancer. The researchers found that men who had gum disease had 14 percent higher cancer risk compared to those who did not.