“The sad fact is that the number of mouth cancer cases continues to increase year on year,” said Nigel Carter, PhD, chief executive of the Oral Health Foundation, addressing the U.K. Parliament. “When we took on this campaign nearly two decades ago, we were looking at just over 3,000 cases each year. In the last year or so, we have had over 8,300 recognized cases of mouth cancer. That is a huge increase, and it is one of the few cancers where the number of cases has started to increase.”

In a review article recently published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the authors outline the potential complications that can arise from poor oral hygiene in older adults and cite the role of all health care professionals in working to promote good oral hygiene in this population.

“All health care professionals should work to promote good oral hygiene for their older patients,” said Dr. Patrick Coll, professor of family medicine and medicine at the UConn School of Medicine and lead author of the review article. They “should consider an oral examination during an annual wellness visit, especially for those patients who are not receiving regular dental care.”

The need is evident, say the authors. Data from the National Center for Health Statistics indicates that the prevalence of cavities is more than twice as high in older adults than younger adults. The prevalence of periodontitis—a serious gum infection that damages the soft tissue and destroys the bone that supports your teeth—also increases with age. As many as 64% of older adults in the U.S. have periodontitis.

Periodontitis is associated with a variety of medical conditions including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Patients with replacement heart valves and prosthetic joints should be particularly careful regarding their oral hygiene, according to the authors.