Is dental care utilization associated with oral cavity cancer in a large sample of community-based United States residents?

– Objectives: Cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx remains one of the 10 leading causes of cancer deaths in US. Besides smoking and alcohol consumption, there are no well‐established risk factors. While poor dental care had been implicated, it is unknown if lack of dental care, implying poor dental hygiene predisposes to oral cavity cancer. This study aimed to assess the relationship between dental care utilization during the past 12 months and the prevalence of oral cavity cancer. Methods: A cross‐sectional design of the National Health Interview Survey of Adult, noninstitutionalized US residents (n = 30 475) was used to assess the association between dental care utilization and self‐reported diagnosis of oral cavity cancer. Chi‐square statistic was used to examine the crude association between the explanatory variable, dental care utilization and other covariates, while unconditional logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between oral cavity cancer and dental care utilization. Results: There were statistically significant differences between those who utilized dental care during the past 12 months and those who did not with respect to education, income, age, marital status, and gender (P