Comments upon the opening of the Fourth International Workshop on the Oral Manifestations of HIV Infection, Skukuza, South Africa.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D V Kleinman.
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OBJECTIVES: To determine if the risk of cancers of the mouth and pharynx is associated with mouthwash use in Puerto Rico, an area of relatively high risk. METHODS: Interviews were conducted with 342 cases of oral and pharyngeal cancer registered in Puerto Rico and diagnosed between 1992 and 1995 and with 521 population-based controls regarding mouthwash use and other factors. Mouthwash-related risks were estimated using unconditional logistic regression controlling for potential confounders. RESULTS: The adjusted odds ratio associated with using mouthwash with an alcohol content of 25% or greater was 1.0. Risks were not higher with greater frequency, years of use, or lifetime mouthwash exposure. Among tobacco and alcohol abstainers the odds ratio associated with mouthwash use was 2.8 (CI = 0.8-9.9), in contrast to 0.8 (CI = 0.4-1.7) and 0.9 (CI = 0.6-1.3) among those with light and heavy cigarette smoking/alcohol drinking behaviors, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: There was no overall increased risk of oral cancer associated with mouthwash use. An elevated, but not statistically significant, risk was observed among the small number of subjects who neither smoked cigarettes nor drank alcohol, among whom an effect of alcohol-containing mouthwash would be most likely evident. Our findings indicate the need to clarify the mechanisms of oral carcinogenesis, including the possible role of alcohol-containing mouthwash.
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BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW: The release this year of "Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General"--the first such report on this topic in U.S. history--gives national visibility to the scope and breadth of oral health and disease in America. The report emphasizes oral health's inextricable link to general health and well-being. Although the country has seen major improvements in oral health, some population groups have yet to benefit from these improvements. To address health disparities and improve quality of life for all Americans, the surgeon general's report calls for the development of a National Oral Health Plan. CONCLUSIONS: "Oral Health in America" identifies opportunities for the dental profession on behalf of the nation's overall health. The profession is uniquely positioned to ensure that all components of the National Oral Health Plan are addressed: changing perceptions to ensure that oral health is seen as integral to general health; removing barriers to care; enhancing health infrastructure; accelerating the transfer of science into practice; and continuing to participate in private/public partnerships. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The report's findings highlight the importance of assessing patients' known risks of experiencing oral diseases and of educating patients about health-promoting behaviors. The integral role of oral health in general health, as described in the report, makes it imperative for health professionals to ensure appropriate referrals to practitioners in all areas of health care.
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OBJECTIVES: To determine risk for oral cancer in Puerto Rico associated with use of alcohol and tobacco. METHODS: In Puerto Rico, alcohol and tobacco use were compared among nonsalivary gland cancers of the mouth and pharynx (n = 342), cancers of major and minor salivary glands (n = 25) and 521 population-based controls. RESULTS: Alcohol (usual use, Ptrend < 0.0001 for men and Ptrend = 0.02 for women) and tobacco (usual use, Ptrend < 0.0001, for both men and women) were strong independent risk factors for oral cancer in Puerto Rico, with a multiplicative effect from combined exposures. Risks did not vary systematically by use of filter vs. nonfilter cigarettes. Risks with use of other forms of smoked tobacco were about sevenfold among both men and women. Risks decreased only gradually after cessation of tobacco and alcohol use. Tobacco use, but not alcohol, was linked to cancers of the salivary glands. The burden of oral cancer due to alcohol and tobacco use in Puerto Rico (76% for men, 52% for women) agreed closely with earlier estimates for the mainland US population, while about 72% of salivary gland cancer (men and women, combined) was due to tobacco use. CONCLUSIONS: Excess risks for oral cancer in Puerto Rico are largely explained by patterns of alcohol and tobacco use. Smoking filter vs. nonfilter cigarettes does not alter risk, while cessation of alcohol and tobacco use appears to reduce risk only gradually.
Oral and pharyngeal cancers result from a complex interaction between genetic susceptibility and behavioral factors. Improved understanding of the underlying genetic events has led to insights about how oral and pharyngeal cancers develop and suggests promising new treatments. Tobacco and alcohol consumption are associated with most oral and pharyngeal cancers. Dental professionals' efforts to modify their patients' tobacco and alcohol use and to detect oral lesions at an early stage, together with scientific advances, will help reduce the impact of these cancers.
In the United States, oral and pharyngeal cancers continue to result in significant morbidity and mortality. Dental professionals play a pivotal role in all facets of controlling the burden of oral and pharyngeal cancer-from efforts to prevent its occurrence, to ensuring that oral cancers are detected at the earliest possible stage, to treating these cancers, and to ensuring maximum quality of life and function for oral and pharyngeal cancer survivors. Individually and by making linkages within the community and beyond, dentists can help patients modify their risk of these cancers and can take steps to screen for them, thereby potentially improving survival and function of those who develop oral cancer. Creative partnerships between community dentists and academic and other research centers will help move knowledge of the biological processes involved in carcinogenesis and innovations in treatment into clinical practice. Partnerships between dental and medical professionals may also help efforts to reduce the morbidity related to oral and pharyngeal cancers. Local, state and national multidisciplinary initiatives are emerging that focus more broadly on risk factor control or oral and pharyngeal cancer issues. These many forms of cooperative approaches offer excellent opportunities to make a significant impact on reducing the incidence of and in treating these debilitating and disfiguring malignancies.
BACKGROUND: The consumption of alcoholic beverages is a strong risk factor for cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx (oral cancers). Alcohol dehydrogenase type 3 (ADH3) metabolizes ethanol to acetaldehyde, a carcinogen. We evaluated whether individuals homozygous for the fast-metabolizing ADH3(1) allele (ADH3[1-1]) have a greater risk of developing oral cancer in the presence of alcoholic beverage consumption than those with the slow-metabolizing ADH3(2) allele (ADH3[1-2] and ADH3[2-2]). METHODS: As part of a population-based study of oral cancer conducted in Puerto Rico, the ADH3 genotypes of 137 patients with histologically confirmed oral cancer and of 146 control subjects (i.e., individuals with no history of oral cancer) were determined by molecular genetic analysis of oral epithelial cell samples. Risks were estimated by use of multiple logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: Compared with nondrinkers with the ADH3(1-1) genotype, consumers of at least 57 alcoholic drinks per week with the ADH3(1-1), ADH3(1-2), and ADH3(2-2) genotypes had 40.1-fold (95% confidence interval [CI] = 5.4-296.0), 7.0-fold (95% CI = 1.4-35.0), and 4.4-fold (95% CI = 0.6-33.0) increased risks of oral cancer, respectively; the risk associated with the ADH3(1-1) genotype, compared with the ADH3(1-2) and ADH3(2-2) genotypes combined, was 5.3 (95% CI = 1.0-28.8) among such drinkers. Considering all levels of alcohol consumption, the risk of oral cancer per additional alcoholic drink per week increased 3.6% (95% CI = 1.9%-5.4%) for subjects with the ADH3(1-1) genotype and 2.0% (95% CI = 0.9%-3.0%) for subjects with the ADH3(1-2) or ADH3(2-2) genotype (two-sided P = .04). CONCLUSIONS: The ADH3(1-1) genotype appears to substantially increase the risk of ethanol-related oral cancer, thus providing further evidence for the carcinogenicity of acetaldehyde.
OBJECTIVES: This paper reviews the themes emerging from reports of the many social, economic and political effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on individuals, nations and the world. The impact of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic has been felt in every facet of society. APPROACH: The impact of the epidemic is described in five areas: (1) challenges and changes to traditional public health approaches to infectious diseases and sexually transmitted diseases; (2) adjustments to 'standard' clinical research and drug regulatory practices; (3) emphasis on the importance of personal behaviors and behavioral approaches in controlling the epidemic; (4) revealing the complexity of and recognizing the need to monitor the impacts of HIV/AIDS; and (5) highlighting the difficulties of, and need for, the international responsiveness to address HIV/AIDS. The oral health community's response to the epidemic is briefly described. CONCLUSIONS: Although in its second decade, the epidemic is still in its early stages of evolution. The challenges lie in the development and perpetual evolution of strategies to respond to the epidemic locally while thinking and acting globally. The international oral health community is one of many that has played and must continue to play an active role in a multi-disciplinary effort needed to curb this epidemic.
The presence of oral smokeless tobacco lesions among adolescents may be an early indicator of increased risk for oral cancers. Data from the 1986-1987 National Survey of Oral Health in US School Children were used to examine the cross-sectional relationship between the use of tobacco and alcohol and the presence of white or whitish oral soft-tissue lesions. The sample included 17,027 schoolchildren (aged 12 to 17 years) who provided information on the use of snuff, chewing tobacco, cigarettes, and alcohol and who received oral clinical examinations. Smokeless tobacco lesions were detected in 1.5% of students (projects to about 300,000 nationally), including 2.9% of males and 0.1% of females. These lesions were more prevalent among whites (2.0%) than among African-Americans (0.2%) or Hispanics (0.8%). Modeling with multivariate logistic regression revealed that, among white males, current snuff use was the strongest correlate of lesions [odds ratio (OR) = 18.4; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 8.5-39.8], followed by current chewing tobacco use [OR = 2.5; 95% CI = 1.3-5.0]. Lesions were strongly associated with duration, monthly frequency, and daily minutes of use of snuff and chewing tobacco. These data suggest that snuff may be a stronger risk factor than chewing tobacco for smokeless tobacco lesions, but the use of either of these forms of oral tobacco exhibits a dose-response relationship with the occurrence of lesions. We found little evidence that the use of alcohol or cigarettes may increase the risk of smokeless tobacco lesions. Preventing smokeless tobacco lesions and their possible malignant transformation may be best accomplished among adolescents by preventing the use of snuff and chewing tobacco.