N E W S
PERIODONTITIS, TONGUE
CANCER LINKED
esearchers have shown for
R the first time an association
between long-standing peri-
odontitis and the risk of devel-
oping tongue cancer, according
to an article in the May issue of
Archives of Otolaryngology.
Researchers at University at
Buffalo The State University of
New York (UB) and Roswell
Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo,
N.Y., conducted a study that
compared panoramic radio-
graphs of 51 white men who re-
cently had been diagnosed with
tongue cancer with those of 54
white men without cancer.
A periodontist who did not
know the study participants’
cancer statuses measured the
alveolar bone loss on each of the
participants’ radiographs. All of
the participants were seen in
the Department of Dentistry
and Maxillofacial Prosthetics at
Roswell Park Cancer Institute
between June 1999 and
November 2005.
After adjusting for the effects
of age, smoking status and
number of existing teeth, the re-
searchers found that partici-
pants with chronic periodontitis
were 5.2 times more likely to
have tongue cancer with every
millimeter of bone loss than
were participants who did not
have periodontitis. They found
that conditions such as decay,
restorations and crowns had no
significant effect on the inci-
dence of tongue cancer.
“We expected to see an asso-
ciation between periodontitis
and tongue cancer, given the re-
sults of earlier studies linking
chronic infections and inflam-
mation to cancer risk in other
organs,” said first author Dr.
Mine Tezal, assistant professor,
944 JADA, Vol. 138 http://jada.ada.org July 2007
Copyright ©2007 American Dental Association. All rights reserved.
Department of Periodontics and
Endodontics, UB School of
Dental Medicine, and a re-
search scientist at Roswell Park
Cancer Institute. “But we didn’t
expect to see such a clear asso-
ciation with a relatively small
sample size.”
The study was supported by
a training grant from the
National Institute of Dental and
Craniofacial Research and a
grant from the National Cancer
Institute.
HEPATITIS C TIED
TO INCREASED RISK
OF LYMPHOMA
epatitis C infection is asso-
H ciated with a 20 to 30 per-
cent increased risk of develop-
ing non-Hodgkin lymphoma
(malignancy involving lymphat-
ic tissue) and a three-fold in-
crease in the risk of developing
the low-grade lymphoma
Waldenström macroglobulin-
emia, say researchers in an arti-
cle in the May 9 issue of The
Journal of the American
Medical Association.
A research team led by
Thomas P. Giordano, M.D.,
M.P.H., of Baylor College of
Medicine and the Michael E.
DeBakey Veterans Affairs
Medical Center, Houston, con-
ducted a retrospective cohort
study to test the hypothesis
that hepatitis C virus (HCV)
infection is associated with in-
creased risk of developing ma-
lignancies of the blood and
blood-forming tissues, related
disorders and thyroid cancer.
The study involved patients
from U.S. Veterans Affairs
health care facilities from 1997
through 2004. It included
146,394 patients who were in-
fected with HCV and 572,293
patients who were not infected
with HCV. The research team
examined the risks of hema-
topoietic malignancies, related
lymphoproliferative precursor
diseases and thyroid cancer.
They found 1,359 patients
with non-Hodgkin lymphoma,
165 patients with Waldenström
macroglobulinemia, 551 pa-
tients with cryoglobulinemia
and 320 patients thyroid cancer.
They also found that HCV infec-
tion was associated with an
increased risk of developing
nonmalignant plasma cell
disorders.
The study found no signifi-
cantly increased risk for other
hematological malignancies.
The risk for thyroid cancer was
not increased.
“Although the clinical signifi-
cance of these findings is un-
known, it is possible that
screening of individuals infected
with HCV could identify early
stage lymphoproliferative condi-
tions suitable for early interven-
tion strategies, including
chemoprevention trials on pre-
malignant disease. Future epi-
demiologic and pathophysiologi-
cal studies are needed to further
explore the relationship be-
tween HCV and NHL,” the au-
thors conclude.
SMOKING, SLEEP AFFECT
PERIODONTAL HEALTH
study in the May issue of
A Journal of Periodontology
has identified smoking and
sleep as the lifestyle factors
that have the most impact on
periodontal health.
Researchers at the Univer-
sity of Osaka in Japan followed
a group of 219 factory workers
in Japan from 1999 to 2003 to
evaluate the effect of different
lifestyle factors on the progres-
sion of periodontal disease.
They evaluated each worker on
the following lifestyle factors:

physical exercise, alcohol con-
sumption, tobacco use, hours of
sleep, nutritional balance, men-
tal stress, hours worked and
eating breakfast.
They found that the lifestyle
factor that had the greatest in-
dependent effect on the progres-
sion of periodontal disease was
smoking. More than 41 percent
of study participants who exhib-
ited periodontal disease pro-
gression from 1999 to 2003 were
current smokers.
They identified lack of sleep
as the second most influential
factor in the progression of peri-
odontal disease. They found
that participants who received
seven to eight hours of sleep a
night exhibited less periodontal
disease progression than did
those who received six hours of
sleep a night or less.
“From our study, we can
speculate that shortage of sleep
can impair the body’s immune
response, which may lead to the
progression of diseases such as
periodontal disease,” said corre-
sponding author Dr. Muneo
Tanaka, Department of
Preventive Dentistry, Osaka
University Graduate School of
Dentistry.
Researchers also found that
high stress levels and daily alco-
hol consumption significantly
affected periodontal disease
progression.
“Simple lifestyle changes,
such as getting more sleep, may
help patients improve or protect
their oral health,” said Dr.
Preston D. Miller, president of
the American Academy of
Periodontology. “It is important
to keep this in mind as the body
of evidence linking oral disease
with systemic diseases contin-
ues to grow, because, ultimately,
these lifestyle factors might im-
pact a patient’s overall health.”
Copyright ©2007 American Dental Association. All rights reserved.
JADAPreview
COMING IN AUGUST
dIdentifying bacteria
associated with halitosis
dThe incidence and severity
of dental trauma in college
athletes
dDentists’ attitudes about
accepting gifts from patients
Look for this and more in
. 1-312-355-1990 or by e-mail at
the August issue of JADA.
CORRECTION
In the June JADA article
“Screening for Cardiovascular
Risk Factors in a Dental
Setting” by Dr. Barbara L.
Greenberg and colleagues
(JADA 2007;138[6]:798-804),
the biographical information for
Dr. Michael Glick was incom-
plete. The complete information
is as follows: At the time the
study was conducted, Dr. Glick
was a professor and the chair-
man, Department of Diagnostic
Sciences, University of Medicine
and Dentistry of New Jersey,
New Jersey Dental School,
Newark. He now is a professor
of oral medicine, Arizona School
of Dentistry & Oral Health, and
associate dean for Oral-Medical
Sciences, College of Osteopathic
Medicine, A.T. Still University,
Mesa, Ariz. He also is editor of
The Journal of the American
Dental Association.
Compiled by Amy E. Lund, senior editor.
MEETINGS
dThe 54th International Asso-
ciation of Dental Students
World Congress will be Aug.
6-12 in Lake Balaton, Hungary.
For more information, visit
“www.congresstravel.hu”.
JADA, Vol. 138 http://jada.ada.org
N E W S
dThe New Zealand Association
of Orthodontists will holds its
annual meeting Aug. 9-11 in
Queenstown. For more informa-
tion, visit “www.orthodontists.
org.nz”.
dThe International Society for
Breath Odor Research will hold
its seventh annual conference
Aug. 22-24 in Chicago. For more
information, contact Dr.
Christine Wu by phone at
“chriswu@uic.edu” or visit
“www.isbor.org”.
dThe American Student
Dental Association will hold its
37th annual meeting Aug. 29-
Sept. 2 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
For more information, contact
Ms. Nancy Honeycutt by phone
at 1-312-440-2848, by fax at
1-312-440-2820 or by e-mail at
“nancy@adanet.org”.
dThe International College of
Prosthodontists meeting will be
Sept. 5-8 in Fukuoka, Japan.
For more information, visit
“www.icp-org.com”.
dThe 42nd Annual Dental
Congress will be Sept. 6-8 in
Veria, Greece. For more infor-
mation, contact Dr. R. Karapa-
Damigos by phone at 011-301-
921-4325 or by e-mail at
“stomsoc@otenet.gr”.
dThe XVII International
Dental Congress of Rio de
Janeiro will be Sept. 19-22 in
Brazil. For more information,
visit “www.aborj.org.br”.
dThe Austrian Dental
Congress 2007 will be Sept. 26-
29 in Graz. For more informa-
tion, contact Mr. Clemens Keil
by phone at 011-43-316-385-
83469.
APPOINTMENTS/
ELECTIONS/AWARDS
dDr. Sara Gordon, Chicago,
was elected president of the
Canadian Academy of Oral and
July 2007 945