{"id":2000123334,"date":"2026-08-22T13:16:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T11:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000123334"},"modified":"2026-08-22T12:53:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T10:53:38","slug":"more-natural-teeth-linked-to-longer-survival-after-pancreatic-cancer-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/more-natural-teeth-linked-to-longer-survival-after-pancreatic-cancer-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"More natural teeth linked to longer survival after pancreatic cancer surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The study, published in the Journal of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Sciences, examined 339 patients who underwent surgery for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma at Hiroshima University Hospital between 2014 and 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All patients received dental examinations before surgery, during which researchers recorded their number of natural teeth and assessed the contact between their back teeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers found a substantial difference in survival between patients with different numbers of natural teeth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those with 21 or more natural teeth had a median overall survival of 60.7 months, compared with 39.1 months among patients with 20 or fewer teeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The association remained statistically significant even after researchers adjusted for important factors that can influence pancreatic cancer outcomes, including tumour stage, lymph node metastasis, surgical margins, chemotherapy and nutritional status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers found that chewing function itself was not independently associated with survival. This suggests that tooth count may reflect more than a person’s ability to chew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenichiro Uemura, an associate professor at Hiroshima University and corresponding author of the study, said tooth loss may reflect the effects of long-term inflammation, frailty, nutritional condition, lifestyle factors and overall systemic vulnerability accumulated over many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers therefore suggest that the number of natural teeth could serve as a simple marker of a person’s broader health and resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers stress that the study does not prove that having more teeth directly improves survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was conducted at a single medical centre and involved patients of Japanese ethnicity, meaning the findings need to be validated through larger, multicentre and international studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team also plans to investigate the possible biological links between oral bacteria, chronic inflammation and pancreatic cancer progression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers hope that oral health assessments could eventually become part of personalized risk assessment and care for pancreatic cancer patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
More natural teeth have been linked to longer survival after Pancreatic Cancer Surgery.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The number of natural teeth a person has may provide an important clue about long-term survival following surgery for pancreatic cancer, according to researchers at Hiroshima University in Japan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":2000123337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[151,69],"byline":[201],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000123334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","byline-rania-umutoni"],"bylines":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":2000122457,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-14-at-12.00.00-PM.jpeg","title":"WhatsApp Image 2026-08-14 at 12.00.00 PM","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"},"user_id":139}],"contributors":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":2000122457,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-14-at-12.00.00-PM.jpeg","title":"WhatsApp Image 2026-08-14 at 12.00.00 PM","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"},"user_id":139}],"featured_image":{"id":2000123337,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/ChatGPT-Image-Aug-22-2026-09_50_02-AM.png","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/png","width":1672,"height":941,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/ChatGPT-Image-Aug-22-2026-09_50_02-AM.png","width":1672,"height":941},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/ChatGPT-Image-Aug-22-2026-09_50_02-AM.png","width":1672,"height":941},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/ChatGPT-Image-Aug-22-2026-09_50_02-AM.png","width":1672,"height":941},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/ChatGPT-Image-Aug-22-2026-09_50_02-AM.png","width":1672,"height":941},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/ChatGPT-Image-Aug-22-2026-09_50_02-AM.png","width":1672,"height":941}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000123334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000123334"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000123334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000123370,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000123334\/revisions\/2000123370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000123337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000123334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000123334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000123334"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000123334"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000123334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}