With proof of “medical necessity” being sought to validate dental claims with the crossover of medical to dental policies there is ever increasing evidence of more medical diseases linked to bacteria present in the mouth.
According to an article in The Explorer, June 2016 edition of the newsletter from The National Association of Dental Assistants http://www.dentalprofessionals.info/The_Explorer_Newsletter.html, more than 46,000 Americans were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and nearly 40,000 died of the disease in 2014. Pancreatic cancer is the 12th most common cancer in the United States and often has a poor survival rate because it is not detected soon enough.
Researchers have found the presence of certain bacteria in the mouth may indicate a raised risk for pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer often begins with no symptoms and there is currently no test to detect it.
Studies are underway to identify the bacteria that produce a higher risk factor for developing the disease. Dr. Jiyoung Ahn, and epidemiologist an associate professor of population health and environmental medicine the NYU School of Medicine has found that the presence of porphyromonas gingivalis was linked to a 59% overall higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer and the presence of Aggregatibacter actinomymycetemcomitans was linked a a 50% overall higher risk.
The research goal is to be able to someday test for pancreatic cancer to be able to treat patients sooner and increase the survival rate of this deadly disease.
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