| Title |
Inconclusive Evidence on Causal Relationship Between Alcohol-Containing Mouthwash and Oropharyngeal Cancer |
| Clinical Question |
Does a dental patient who uses alcohol-containing mouthwash have an increased incidence of oropharyngeal cancer than one who uses non-alcohol containing mouthwash? |
| Clinical Bottom Line |
Available evidence is inconclusive. (See Comments on the CAT below) |
| Best Evidence |
|
| PubMed ID |
Author / Year |
Patient Group |
Study type
(level of evidence) |
| 14990877 | Carretero Pelaez/ 2004 | N/A | Systematic Review | | Key results | The available data does not support a causal relationship between the use of alcohol-containing mouthwashes and the development of oral cancer. | |
| Evidence Search |
Meta-Analysis, Systematic ReviewsSearch "Mouth Neoplasms"[Mesh]Search "Alcohols"[Mesh]Search "Mouthwashes"[Mesh] |
Comments on
The Evidence |
This is a systematic review of 9 cases and controls, not randomized controlled trials. The article makes no mention as to whether the individual studies were assessed for validity. The article discussed 7 trials with a total of more than 1,897 patients. A meta-analysis could not be performed due to the heterogeneity of the studies. |
| Applicability |
A potential patient benefit is peace of mind for patients using alcohol-containing mouthwashes, knowing that a causal relationship has not been established. However, since no randomized controlled clinical trial or longitudinal study have investigated the safety of the long-term use of alcohol-containing mouthwashes, the available results could potentially give a false security in using a product that may one day be shown to increase the risk for oropharyngeal cancer. |
| Specialty |
(General Dentistry) |
| Keywords |
alcohol, ethanol, mouth neoplasms, oral cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, mouthwash, mouthrinse
|
| ID# |
548 |
| Date of submission |
03/29/2010 |
| E-mail |
MorganS4@uthscsa.edu |
| Author |
Starr Morgan Mayen |
| Co-author(s) |
|
| Co-author(s) e-mail |
|
| Faculty mentor |
Cristina Villar, DDS |
| Faculty mentor e-mail |
Villar@uthscsa.edu |
| |
|
Basic Science Rationale
(Mechanisms that may account for and/or explain the clinical question, i.e. is the answer to the clinical question consistent with basic biological, physical and/or behavioral science principles, laws and research?) |
| None available | |
 |
Comments and Evidence-Based Updates on the CAT
(FOR PRACTICING DENTISTS', FACULTY, RESIDENTS and/or STUDENTS COMMENTS ON PUBLISHED CATs) |
by Alexander Padalino (San Antonio, TX) on 09/28/2022
I found an update article on this topic (Argemi et al. 2020, PubMed ID: 32473798). This was a meta-analysis and systematic review of 11 case-control studies and 3 clinical trials. The results agreed with previous reports that there is not sufficient evidence to accept any proposal that alcohol containing mouth rinses increase the risk of oral cancer. | by Amber O’Connor (San Antonio, TX) on 04/16/2012
In a PubMed search done on this topic in April 2012 I found a more recent publication: PubMed: 18952488. A systematic review of 10 case-control studies found the same key results as this CAT and further confirms the evidence that there is not a relationship between alcohol-containing mouthwash and oral cancer. | |