Dentition, diet, tobacco, and alcohol in the epidemiology of oral cancer.

Interview and dental examination data were gathered on 584 males with cancer of the oral cavity and on 1,222 control patients with nonneoplastic diseases at Roswell Park Memorial Institute, Buffalo, New York. No dietary characteristics distinguished cancer patients from controls. However, a higher risk of developing oral cancer was associated with heavy smoking, heavy drinking, and poor dentition. When controlled for the other factors, each factor carried a higher risk. Moreover, heavy smokers and heavy drinkers with poor dentition and males with all three traits had a substantially higher risk than would have been expected, if the traits were considered additively. The risk for males with all three traits was 7.7 times that of men with none of these traits.