The following statement was approved by the Board of Directors at their meeting in Miami Beach, Florida, on April 3, 2009

The International Academy of Periodontology (IAP) is concerned about a recent article, published in the AustralianDental Journal in December, 2008 by McCullough and co-author Camile Farah which concludes there is now “sufficient evidence” to suggest that alcohol containing mouthwashes are a contributing factor to oral cancer1. However, it should be noted that this issue was evaluated by the United States Food and Drug Administration, the American Dental Association and the National Cancer institute over 10 years ago with the conclusion that alcohol in mouthrinses does not cause cancer.

More recently a review article by Lewis in Great Britain reaches he same conclusion3 as do three thorough review papers: one in Australia, one in Brazil and one in Italy.These papers all agreed that , relative to an association between alcohol in mouthrinses and oral cancer risk, there is no “relevant association between alcohol containing mouthrinses and oral cancer risk” The Brazilian paper stated “The alleged correlation between oral cancer and alcohol-based mouthrinses presents little, weak, inconsistent and even contradictory evidence in the literature that any kind of risk-warning to patients would be uncalled for.4,5,6 In view of the current trend towards evidenced based decisions in medicine and dentistry, the International Academy of Periodontology encourages a well designed systematic review of this topic when adequate studies are available.

The International Academy of Periodontology is in agreement with the following positions of the British Dental Health Foundation and the British Dental Association.

Click on the options or here to see the positions of the British Foundation & Association !!!