Mouth can indicate body’s overall health
November 15th, 2009 - 11:26 am ICT by ANI
- Washington, Nov 15 (ANI): The mouth or oral cavity area is an excellent indicator of the whole body’s health, says a University of Maryland Dental School professor.
Professor Li Mao insists surface tissues inside the cheek could be checked to detect tobacco-induced damage in the lungs.
This could prove to be an important advancement in designing future lung cancer prevention trials.
“We hypothesized that tobacco-induced molecular alterations in the oral epithelium are similar to those in the lungs,” said Mao.
The expert added:”This might have broader implications for using the mouth as a diagnostic indicator for general health.”
“I feel that dentists should play a major role in prevention of cancer and Dr. Mao is the leading oral cancer researcher in the country. He crosses the bridge between medicine and dentistry,” said University of Maryland Dental School Dean Christian S. Stohler, DMD, DrMedDent, a leader in the movement to retool dental education.
“Being a physician helps expand dental health care and he wants to change how patients are being treated because his background is in head and neck cancer,” Stohler added.
The study is published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research. (ANI)
Related Stories
- By 2015, 2 million people would die annually from tobacco-induced cancers - Aug 26, 2009
- Diets bad for the teeth may be harmful for the body too - Jul 10, 2009
- Globally-acclaimed Surgeon Prof Rama Kant now on SRNT Treatment Committee - Sep 27, 2009
- Dentists laud US chewing gum maker's healthcare initiative - Sep 09, 2009
- Need to prevent periodontitis to cut head and neck cancer risk - Sep 08, 2009
- Anxious people more likely to have dental problems - Nov 11, 2009
- Scientists identify 50 microRNAs in saliva that may help diagnose oral cancer - Aug 26, 2009
- Pessimists more likely to have poor oral health - Nov 12, 2009
- 67 percent Indians have never visited a dentist: Survey - Aug 22, 2009
- Strictly enforce smoke-free policies! Quit tobacco before it's too late - May 30, 2009
- cancer prevention research- - cancer prevention trials
- - cancer researcher
- - dean christian
- - dental education
- - dental health care
- - dr mao
- - epithelium
- - head and neck cancer
- - journal cancer
- - lung cancer prevention
- - maryland dental school
- - molecular alterations
- - oral cancer
- - oral cavity
- - professor li
- - school dean
- - school professor
- - stohler
- - surface tissues
Posted in Health Science, |
