Mouthrinses containing alcohol and oral cancer. Revision of epidemiological studies

Abstract

The strong association between alcohol usage and the development of oral cancer (OC) has been reported in numerous papers. As some mouthrinses contain significant amounts of ethanol, a possible relationship to this pathology has been considered. The purpose of the present paper is to analyze several epidemiological studies which evaluated the association between commercial mouthrinses and the etiology of OC. Although some authors report an association, most of the studies are unclear and sometimes contradictory. The controversial aspects regarding the role of alcohol in OC may also make difficult to find a clear relationship between the use of mouthrinses containing alcohol and OC.