I would have never even thought there could ever be a connection.

I'm glad I floss religiously.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/...n2364685.shtml

Gum Disease May Up Pancreatic Cancer Risk


(WebMD) Gum disease can more than double a person's risk of pancreatic cancer, a Harvard study shows.

In addition, people with a history of gum disease, plus recent tooth loss, have a 2.7-fold higher risk of this fatal cancer than people without gum disease or tooth loss.

Previous studies have linked gum disease to pancreatic cancer. But those studies could not control for smoking, which contributes to both gum disease and cancer. That was not a problem for Dominique S. Michaud, ScD, and colleagues at Harvard School of Public Health. The researchers analyzed data from 51,529 male health professionals — a large number of whom were nonsmokers — who were followed for 16 years.

Michaud's team found that, overall, study subjects who reported gum disease were 64 percent more likely to have pancreatic cancer. Among nonsmokers, those with gum disease were more than twice as likely to have pancreatic cancer.

The worse the gum disease, the higher the risk. Tooth loss greatly increased cancer risk for the men with periodontal, or gum, disease.

It is not clear why gum disease is linked to cancer risk.

Michaud and colleagues suggest that longstanding gum infections trigger a bodywide immune response: inflammation. Inflamed tissues give off chemical signals that promote tumor growth.

The findings appear in the Jan. 17 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

There is also a link between gum problems and heart disease.

I've heard of that one before, and it made sense to me because the heart can be damaged (attacked) by bacteria, including that which forms in the gums.

In this case, I think what they're saying is that there is somehow an immune system response to the gum disease that enables tumour growth. But they don't explain why this would cause cancer in the first place.

I wouldn't worry too much unless you are already at risk. I would just keep looking after your gums because its fucking awful to look at is gum disease and overgrown gums.

Yes, gum disease looks pretty gross.

I'm not worried, just sort of shocked that there could be a connection between it and pancratic cancer. (I knew someone who died of that at age 37. He was a martial arts instructor, and had always been in exceptionally good health and good shape. Pancreatic cancer ran in his family though, as his mother had died of it 2 years before he did).