Interrelationship between Cancer and Periodontal Diseases

Abstract

Periodontal disease (PD) involves a polymicrobial and multifactorial infectious disease in the mouth, which can cause chronic inflammation in the periodontium. Cancer encompasses the designation used for a sum of around one hundred pathologies that concomitantly have characteristics that involve disordered or abnormal growth of cells and that can afflict any location in the body. It is known that certain organs can be more affected than others and that one can live with more and less aggressive tumors. Epidemiological studies consider the presence of PD as a factor to be taken into account when considering the risk of cancer in patients. It is known that PD leads to the onset of an inflammatory process, the basis of Periodontal Medicine, and that it can have systemic repercussions, including cancer. The objective of this article was to analyze how there may be a possibility of an association between PD and the onset of cancer. A narrative review of the literature was carried out with a survey of studies on the possibility of an association between the occurrence of cancer and periodontal diseases. The persistent low-grade inflammatory process present in PD may be associated with the onset of cancer. In general, PD are capable of promoting an inflammatory process and causing systemic pathologies, including cancer. Mechanisms responsible for the correlation between PD and cancer involve dysregulation of immunity. It was concluded that there may be an interrelationship between PD and the appearance of cancer and that a preventive approach should be adopted that is capable of stopping the progression of the neoplasia or that can identify the presence of cancer early, promoting less expensive antineoplastic treatments.

Keywords: Neoplasms. Periodontal Diseases. Periodontitis. Inflammation.