FRIDAY, Oct. 3 (HealthDay News) -- A simple test of saliva proteins may one day help doctors detect oral cancer, according to a new study in the Oct. 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

For their study, part of the U.S. National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research's Human Saliva Proteome Project, researchers collected saliva samples from 64 people with oral squamous cell carcinoma (a form of oral cancer) and 64 healthy people.

By Shannon Koehle
EmpowHer.com Health Reporter

Miquel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, once wrote, “Every tooth in a man’s head is more valuable than a diamond.”

Assuming Cervantes was correct; mothers must protect their diamonds if they plan to keep them, according to a study composed by a New York University professor.

Dr. Stephanie Russell, an assistant professor of epidemiology and health promotion, examined more than 2,000 women between ages 18 and 64 who gave birth at least once and found a correlation between pregnancy and tooth loss.

By Carolyn Colwell
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, July 8 (HealthDay News) -- A new sweet treat that actually prevents children's cavities should please children and their parents, researchers say.

The tasty syrup, which contains the sugar substitute xylitol, prevented early decay in infants' teeth and may play a role in protecting permanent teeth, says a team from the United States and the Marshall Islands, in the South Pacific.

Xylitol has long been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is already found in food products such as chewing gum.

SATURDAY, June 7 (HealthDay News) -- People with type 2 diabetes can help control the disease by taking better care of their teeth and gums.

That's the case dentists were expected to make at the American Diabetes Association's annual meeting in San Francisco this weekend.

TUESDAY, June 3 (HealthDay News) -- There's some truth to the old wives' tale that "for every child, the mother loses a tooth," according to a New York University professor who found that women with more children are more likely to have missing teeth.

Dr. Stefanie Russell, an assistant professor of epidemiology and health promotion, examined data on 2,635 women, ages 18 to 64, who reported at least one pregnancy in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

The findings were published online in the American Journal of Public Health.

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.