I am surprised that they apparently did not also control for alcohol intake.
Alcohol is a carcinogen that increases the risk of cancer in all tissues it
comes into direct contact with from the beginning of the digestive tract
(the mouth) - as well as increasing the risk of more distant tissues such as
the breast.
The dental care link is interesting. I have long believed that basic dental
care should be included in medical care coverage. Dental health IS medical
health. And of course it is poor people who miss out on dental care.

Oral Oncol. 2010 Feb 5. [Epub ahead of print]
Socio-economic status and head and neck cancer incidence in Canada: A
case-control study.
Johnson S, McDonald JT, Corsten M, Rourke R.
Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, The University of
Ottawa, The Ottawa Hospital, S3, 501 Smyth Rd., Ottawa, ON, Canada K1H 8L6.
In an earlier study we identified an increased incidence of head and neck
cancer (HNC) in individuals with lower socio-economic status (SES) in the
United States. The objective of this study was to determine if lower SES is
associated with a similar increase in the incidence of HNC in Canadian
patients. We obtained data on SES (income, education and immigration
status), demographic characteristics, frequency of dental visits and smoking
behavior for adult patients residing in the Eastern Ontario region who were
referred to the Ottawa Regional Cancer Centre with HNC. We compared the SES
and frequency of dental visits of these HNC patients with the SES and
frequency of dental visits of a control sample in the same region from the
2004-2005 Statistics Canada Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS 3.1). We
then performed a logistic regression analysis on the combined sample of
patients and controls using incidence of HNC as the dependent variable. This
allowed us to eliminate confounding variables such as tobacco intake and to
isolate the effect of SES, frequency of dental visits, and immigration
status on HNC incidence. There was a statistically significant decrease in
the incidence of HNC among adults with a higher median family income
(OR=0.5429, CI=[.3352, .8795]). Also, adults with less than grade 8
education had significantly higher rates of HNC than adults who had
completed high school (OR 3.65, CI=[1.88, 7.08]). As well, immigrants had a
significantly lower incidence of HNC than Canadian born adults (OR=0.3825,
CI=[.2063, .7090]). Lastly, we found that individuals who typically visited
a dentist less than once per year had a significantly higher incidence of
HNC than individuals who typically visited a dentist at least once per year
(OR=1.69, CI=[1.01, 2.83]). Even when controlling for tobacco intake, the
incidence of HNC in Eastern Ontario was higher in patients with lower median
family income and less than grade 8 education. It was higher in individuals
who visited a dentist less than once per year, and lower in immigrants to
Canada. This was similar to what has been observed in the United States.
Further study into the reason for this increased incidence of HNC in
patients with lower SES is warranted. Copyright C 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All
rights reserved. 

Melissa

-----Original Message-----
From: Social Determinants of Health [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Sandi Pniauskas
Sent: Wednesday, 10 February 2010 12:58 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SDOH] abstract: Socio-economic status and head and neck cancer
incidence in Canada: A case-control study

"This was similar to what has been observed in the United States"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20138799?itool=Email.EmailReport.Pubmed_R
eportSelector.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=8 

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