Elsevier

Oral Oncology

Volume 45, Issue 3, March 2009, Pages 198-200
Oral Oncology

Review
Mouthwash and oral cancer risk: An update

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oraloncology.2008.08.012Get rights and content

Summary

The possible relationship between mouthwash use and oral cancer risk has been the subject of at least 10 case–control studies published over the last three decades. Three of these reported relative risks above unity and seven no consistent association. Only a few studies, moreover, included information on different types of mouthwash, and addressed the issue of alcohol-containing mouthwash. Thus, critical review of published data revealed that a link between mouthwash use, specifically alcohol-containing mouthwash, and oral cancers is not supported by epidemiological evidence.

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Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

Acknowledgements

This work was conducted with the support of the Italian Asssociation for Cancer Research and the Italian League against Cancer. Johnson and Johnson Consumer provided partial unconditioned support. The work in this paper was undertaken while CLV was a senior fellow at the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

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