Understanding The Causes And Risk Factors Linked To Mouth Cancer

Weakened Immune System

Individuals with a weakened immune system are at a greater risk of developing cancers of the mouth and throat. Numerous factors and processes can cause an individual to have a weakened immune system. Hereditary and congenital conditions can cause some individuals to be immunosuppressed. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a lifelong disease that causes the breakdown of a patient's immune system. Medications used to treat numerous diseases of the autoimmune nature and utilized for the prevention of transplanted donor organ rejection are designed to pump the breaks on the patient's immune system. The immune system is constantly detecting and destroying pre-cancerous or malignant cells. It is often effective at keeping small amounts of malignant cells from proliferating, but occasionally it may experience a hiccup. The temporary lapse in function may allow cancerous cells to evolve and learn how to outsmart the components of the human immune system. Once the cancer cells have achieved this, they begin to grow and spread. Individuals with a weak immune system tend to experience more of these functional hiccups that increases their risk for developing cancers of the mouth and throat.

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Use Of Tobacco And Smoking

A good portion of individuals diagnosed with mouth cancer exhibit behaviors of frequent use of tobacco and smoking. The increased risk is aligned with the duration and amount the individual has smoked or chewed substances containing tobacco. Cancers can develop anywhere in an individual's mouth or throat as a result of inhaling smoke from cigars, pipes, and cigarettes. Individuals who frequently smoke tobacco products from a pipe are at an even greater risk of developing malignancies where their lips that come in contact with the stem of the pipe they are smoking. Individuals treated for oral cancer from smoking who begin smoking again are at an increased risk of oral cancer recurrence. Oral products containing tobacco, such as dip, chew, snuff, spit, or dissolvable tobacco, is strongly associated with a significantly increased risk of developing malignancies in the inner lip surface, cheeks, and gums. Individuals who drink alcohol on top of using tobacco products can be at risk of one hundred times greater than the risk in those who do not use tobacco products or drink beverages containing alcohol.

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