Study uncovers prognostic indicator of pancreatic cancer survival in teeth
Dental well-being may be linked to long-term survival following surgical resection in patients with pancreatic cancer.
In a study published in the Journal of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Sciences, investigators examined the prognostic value of two indicators of oral health — including natural tooth count and posterior teeth occlusion — in more than 300 patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who underwent curative radical pancreatectomy and preoperative dental examinations between 2014 and 2022. They also analyzed the patients’ clinical characteristics and immunonutritional biomarkers.
Compared with those who had 21 or more natural teeth, the investigators found the participants who had 20 or fewer natural teeth had poorer overall survival following the surgical procedure — about 39 months versus 61 months — even after adjustment for prognostic variables such as nutritional status, tumor stage, lymph node metastasis, surgical margins and receipt of chemotherapy. However, there was no correlation between posterior teeth occlusion and overall survival.
The findings indicated the association between natural tooth count and overall patient vulnerability, representing aspects of patient health such as oral well-being, chronic inflammation, nutritional reserve, lifestyle and frailty, according to a news article from Oral Health reporting on the results of the study. For instance, previous research has demonstrated that oral pathogens implicated in periodontal disease may play a role in the development and progression of pancreatic cancer. The investigators suggested that the marker of oral health may serve as a risk stratification measure in this patient population; however, they cautioned against viewing natural tooth count as having a causal relationship with pancreatic cancer survival.
“The mouth may reflect the body’s long-term resilience,” the investigators concluded.
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