Mouthwash cancer risk

by Paul Conneally | January 10, 2009 at 03:42 pm
1545 views | 31 Recommendations | 5 comments

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Halitosis is something that none of want and many people use a mouthwash to help combat bad breath but concern over mouthwashes possibly causing cancer has been raised by Australian health experts.

The research is published in the Dental Journal of Australia and calls for mouthwashes containing alcohol to be removed from shop shelves. This would be the majority of mouthwashes currently on the market.

Their review, published in the Dental Journal of Australia, concludes there is now "sufficient evidence" that "alcohol-containing mouthwashes contribute to the increased risk of development of oral cancer".

The ethanol in mouthwash is thought to allow cancer-causing substances to permeate the lining of the mouth more easily and cause harm.

Acetaldehyde, a toxic by-product of alcohol that may accumulate in the oral cavity when swished around the mouth, is also believed to be carcinogenic.

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158

Is any product safe to use?

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rpshen

This is crazy. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

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jonwirons

Scope photo courtesy of Jon Irons, the Humanihilsocialist on Flickr.

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angieHA

my picture (= ahahaha.

angieHA has contributed a photo to this story.

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harringtola

Agreed, carledb.

This story was created over 3 months ago, the comment thread is now closed.

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