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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Friday, February 10, 2012
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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Friday, February 10, 2012
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Mouth Diseases |
Wine02/18/2005 |
Does drinking two glasses of wine a day put a person at risk for oral cancer?
Alcoholic drinks in general have only been shown to have a weak association to the development of oral cancer. This is especially true if you do not smoke. Most of the studies have indicated that drinking alcohol together with smoking puts patients at greater risk for developing oral cancer than smoking alone. This is termed a synergistic effect, where the risk associated with use of both is greater than the simple addition of risk from either agent alone.
But by itself, alcohol has been shown in most studies to play only a minor association with oral cancer in humans. A similar concern about alcohol in mouthwashes was addressed by the Food and Drug Administration in 1996, and the agency found no risk for oral cancer with these agents either.
Since some wines, particularly red wines, are rich in antioxidants and antioxidants are considered to work against the development of some cancers, wine may actually protect the skin of the mouth from precancerous and cancerous lesions.
This is not to say that drinking larger amounts of wine would be better. As with anything, moderation is the key. Together with a routine oral examination every 6-12 months to check for the earliest signs of precancerous change, I believe most patients could enjoy two glasses of wine without the added worry of oral cancer.
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John R Kalmar, DMD, PhD Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Graduate Studies Dental Faculty Practice Section of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology College of Dentistry The Ohio State University |
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