According to an observational study featured in the online journal BMJ Open reveals that persistent dental plaque can potentially raise the risk of dying early from cancer.

Researchers decided to establish whether dental plaque may influence the risk of early death from cancer due to infection and inflammation, as both factors are believed to play a role in up to one in five different types of cancer.

The findings revealed that dental plaque was linked to a substantially higher risk (79%) of premature death. However, the overall risk of premature death remained low, with a death rate of only 58 participants from a total of 1,390 participants after 24 years. The team highlights that their findings provide no evidence that dental plaque in fact causes or definitely contributes to cancer.