It's not often you hear a dentist say something nice about cavities, but that may be changing.
In a recently published study in The Journal of the American Medical Association involving 620 participants, subjects with cavities, or dental caries, showed a significantly reduced rate of developing head and neck cancers.
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"To our knowledge, the present study suggests, for the first time, an independent association between dental cavities and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma," wrote the authors of the study, which was conducted by researchers from the State University of New York at Buffalo conducted the study and led by Mine Tezal, DDS, Ph.D. The results were published the results on the journal's website on Thursday.
But don't go on a candy binge just yet. The study only reveals a correlation; it didn't account for a number of variables such as socioeconomic status and diet. In the conclusion, the study stated that the research "provides insights for future studies."
Check out the video above for more on the study. You'll need a subscription to read the full text, but you can find a detailed summary of the results here.
Image: Flickr, marissa anderson