A new study has found that oral sex increases the risk of having mouth and throat cancer by 22 times.
This is just as it has been proven that cunnilingus (oral stimulation of the female vagina) poses a greater risk than fellatio (oral stimulation of the male penis), meaning that men are twice likely to contract oropharyngeal cancer than women.
Oropharyngeal cancer is a disease in which malignant cells form in the tissue of oropharynx. The oropharynx is the middle part of the throat that includes the base of the tongue, the tonsils, the soft palate, and the walls of the pharynx.
The study which was published in the journal JAMA Oncology is the first to establish a definite connection that the Human papilomavirus (HPV) when present in the mouth can lead to mouth cancer.
It is believed that oral sex is the main way HPV, more commonly associated with cervical cancer, ends up in the mouth.
It must however be noted that while HPV doesn’t directly cause cancer, it alters the cells it has affected and these cells can become cancerous. The virus affects the skin and moist membranes which line the body. The group of viruses affect the anus, cervix, mouth and throat.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO, oropharyngeal cancer is the 11th most common cancer in the world, and as much as 500,000 are diagnosed with the cancer every year.