European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Squamous cell carcinoma is commonly occurring cancer of the oral cavity and it is the major cause of morbidity and mortality. Apart from risk factors like tobacco habit, alcohol consumption and betel quid chewing, certain microorganisms are also implicated in the etiology of oral cancer. The oral microbiota contributes significantly in the human oral disease, systemic diseases and in health. The imbalances between microbes and their hosts mostly caused by bacteria leads to cancer. This review presents the literature on oral microbiota involved in causing oral squamous cell carcinoma. Articles were searched in databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, EBSCO, E-Journals and Science Direct until 2018 with the following search terms: “Association of oral microbiota with oral cancer Squamous cell carcinoma”. Initially, 40 full text articles were identified and after taking into consideration of inclusion/exclusion criteria, 17 were excluded and finally, 23 articles were included in the review. The reports of 23 articles revealed that microbiota involving Fusobacterium nucleatum, Porphyromonas gingivalis were most commonly involved in oral cancers. As oral bacteria are found to be associated with OSCC, they can be certain biomarkers in the early diagnosis of carcinoma.