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37 2 2016 laser Certain oral bacteria may indicate Increased pancreatic cancer risk How electronic cigarettes affect Oral health Researchers have found that the risk of devel- oping pancreatic cancer is associated with spe- cific bacteria in the mouth. They hope that the findings could enable earlier and more precise treatment of the disease. Other studies have shown that pancreatic cancer patients are sus- ceptible to periodontal disease, cavities and poor oral health in general. Therefore, the research team at the NYU Langone Medical Center set out to search for direct links between the makeup of bacteria driving oral disease and subsequent development of pancreatic can- cer. The researchers compared bacterial contents in mouth- wash samples from 361 Amer- ican men and women who had developed pancreatic cancer with samples from 371 people of matched age, sex and ethnic origin who did not. They found that men and women whose oral microbiome included Por- phyromonas gingivalis, a major contributor to periodontal dis- ease, had an overall 59 per cent greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer than those whose microbiome did not contain the bacterium. Sim- ilarly, people with oral microbiomes containing Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, which has been associated with severe periodontitis, were at least 50 per cent more likely overall to develop the disease. The findings were first presented on April 19 at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in New Orleans. New York researchers have received a grant to determine the adverse health effects of e-cigarette use on oral health for the first time. “Based on compelling data from our preliminary research, we hypothesise that e-cig aerosol mixtures disrupt the oral cavity’s microenvi- ronment, increasing vulnerability to periodon- tal disease,” said Dr. Deepak Saxena from the New York University College of Dentistry, which was awarded a four-year $1.6 million grant by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). “Smoking is a major risk factor for periodontal diseases, immuno-suppression, and impairment of soft tissue and bone cell function,” added co-researcher Dr. Xin Li. “The prospective study we proposed to the NIDCR entails the en- rollment of 120 individuals.” The researchers will recruit and stratify members of the e-ciga- rette group by the type of dis- posable e-cigarette and number of cartridges they consume per week. “To determine the mecha- nism by which e-cig aerosol affects oral health we will design a novel 3-D epigingival tissue model to mimic the oral microenvironment,” Li explained. On 20 and 21 May, representatives of member and observer organisations of the Council of European Dentists (CED) gathered for the first general meeting under the chairmanship of its new president, Dr Marco Landi, in The Hague/ Netherlands. In addition to adopting policy state- ments on sugar, specialist dentists and dental amalgam, delegates expressed concerns about economic pressures affecting the profession. According to Landi, the meeting elucidated the increase of commercial chains that in many European countries are changing dentistry in a direction that is motivated by short-term profits rather than quality. “I am concerned with the commercial drivers affecting patients’ rights to receive dental health care in their best inter- ests,” he said. “The CED will be dedicating more resources to look into this issue.” Moreover, the association advocated new regu- lations for dental amalgam that restrict the use of the material to an encapsulated form and sug- gest the mandatory use of amalgam separators from 1 January 2019. The CED is a non-profit association that represents over 340,000 prac- tising dentists from 30 European countries. © Piotr Marcinski/Shutterstock.com © Icon Craft Studio/Shutterstock.com EU dentists concerned about Future of dentistry © iQoncept/Shutterstock.com 22016