Oral Cancer, Socioeconomic Status, and Access to Health Care in BC
Limited studies have highlighted an inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and oral cancer. The effects of poor education, lack of healthcare access, poor hygiene, poor nutrition, unfavourable working environment, and poor living conditions were found to be contributing factors to causation of oral cancer (Warnakulasuriya, 2009).
Very Strong Risk Factors ( > 10-fold increased risk)
- Increased age
- Using tobacco and alcohol
- Using smokeless tobacco, including snuff and chewing tobacco
- Chewing betel quid, areca nut and paan
- Being immunologically compromised
Strong Risk Factors ( 4- to 10-fold increased risk)
- Smoking cigarettes
- Drinking alcohol
- Having a human papilloma virus infection
Moderate Risk Factors ( ≤ 4-fold increased risk)
- Being male
- Smoking pipes and cigars
- Smoking marijuana
- Being exposed to environmental tobacco smoke
- Having low fruit and vegetable intake
Risk
Factors (Risk assessment by the Canadian Dental Association)
Risks for heavy smokers and drinkers are increased by more than 30-fold.
