Relationship between squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue and the position of dental prosthesis.
OBJECTIVE
Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue has a relatively high incidence of all oral cancers. Some studies have reported a relationship between intraoral dental prosthesis and SCC of the tongue; however, this relationship remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between SCC of the tongue and the positional aspects of dental prosthesis using a retrospective analysis.


METHODS
A total of 439 patients with SCC of the tongue were diagnosed and treated in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Seoul National University Dental Hospital. Patients were treated over a 12.5-year period ranging from January 1, 2001 to June 30, 2013. Statistical analysis was performed to examine potential differences between the groups.


RESULTS
The number of patients with a crown and/or a bridge (134, 63.5%) was significantly different than the number of patients without a prosthesis (77, 36.5%). Even after accounting for different types of prostheses such as crowns, bridges, and dentures, no significant differences were observed between the position of the prosthesis and the location of the SCC of the tongue, with significance defined as a P-value less than .05 by the Pearson-Chi square test.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with crowns and/or bridges exhibited more frequent SCC of the tongue compared with patients without these prosthesis. These data support the hypothesis that mechanical trauma and galvanic phenomena play a role in the etiology of SCC of the tongue.
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dental Reaserch Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Huan
0000-0002-2654-1329
H
Fan
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dental Reaserch Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Ki-Yong
KY
Yoon
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dental Reaserch Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Soung-Min
SM
Kim
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dental Reaserch Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Hoon
H
Myoung
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dental Reaserch Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Jong-Ho
JH
Lee
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dental Reaserch Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Myung-Jin
MJ
Kim
Dental prosthesis; Location relationship; Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue