In a recent study published in Diabetes Care, it now appears that gum disease may be a predictor for the onset of diabetes.

The study is the most recent in a string of reports linking gum health to over all health. Last year, researchers at Harvard associated periodontal disease with pancreatic cancer.

By Steven Reinberg
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, May 27 (HealthDay News) -- There may be another good reason to floss each day: A new study finds that gum disease could raise the risk for cancer.

"Men with history of periodontal disease had a 14 percent higher risk of cancer than those who did not have periodontal disease, and the increase persisted among never smokers," said lead researcher Dominique Michaud, a cancer epidemiologist at Imperial College London, in the U.K.

FRIDAY, April 4 (HealthDay News) -- Your risk of developing tongue cancer increases if you have severe gum disease along with human papillomavirus (HPV), new research suggests.
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Previous studies have found periodontitis, which destroys connective tissue and bone supporting the teeth, and HPV each pose increased risks of cancer in the head, neck or tongue. This new study, from researchers at the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine, shows the two may work in tandem.