NEW DELHI: (Jul 17) Oral healthcare plays a significant role in enhancing health-related outcomes, including those associated with cancer, researchers from AIIMS Delhi said, underscoring the necessity of integrating oral care practices not only at the primary level but throughout all health management.

Emerging evidences indicate that poor oral health is closely associated with several health problems, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, adverse pregnancy outcomes and Alzheimer’s disease, oncologists Dr Abhishek Shankar and Dr Vaibhav Sahni from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi said in an article published in The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia earlier this month.

Oral hygiene has been implicated in cancer risk and its prediction, particularly in head and neck cancers (HNC).