Risk Factors for Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) is a common cancer worldwide. Regular oral checkup is recommended for smokers and drinkers and preventive measures should be taken for discouraging and giving up the smoking. Persons who don’t use tobacco and alcohol individually but in the combined form, they are at more risk, because the combination which raises the risk of oral cancer 15 times in users than non-users. Although tobacco smoking and alcohol intake are risk factors of oral cancer but their combined effects are more harmful as compare to individual ones. After tobacco smoking, HPV is the most common causative agent for oral cancer in the United states. Different types of HPV are associated with infections. Skin warts are also caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). The HPV infection is transmitted through many ways. The most important of which are prenatal. genital infections, through blood, shared objects and hands. If the objects are contaminated with HPV infection, and they are shared to one person to the other, then there is a possible chance of transmission of HPV. Fingers-genital contact is a unlikely to be a significant source but it is a possible way of HPV to be transmitted.