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Living in an environment with heavy air pollution could increase the risk for mouth cancer. Middle-aged men living in municipalities throughout Taiwan were more likely to develop oral cancer if they lived in places with high levels of air pollutants.
Those exposed to the highest levels of fine particulate matter in the air were 43 percent more likely to be diagnosed with mouth cancer. The link is established after researchers controlled for other habits that could contribute to mouth cancer, like smoking tobacco or chewing betel quid.
Heavy metals contained in particulate air pollution could be responsible for the risk. Metallic components of fine particulate pollution] like lead, cadmium, arsenic, chromium and nickel, as well as organic compounds like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [PAHs], are carcinogenic.
Air pollution has been mainly associated with health problems related to the lungs and heart. Some of the compounds that comprise overall fine particulate matter are carcinogens, this could increase the risk of oral cancer.
For this study, researchers compared the health records of more than 482,000 men 40 and older with pollution data gathered from 66 air quality monitoring stations across Taiwan. The particles in pollution are so tiny, the heavy metals contained within them might be easily absorbed by the tissues of the mouth.