Oral sex not as safe as it's made out to be

Warning: Oral sex can cause throat cancer.

That was the warning from the SA Dental Association yesterday.

Professor Andre van Zyl, of Pretoria University's School of Dentistry, said: "If you've had six or more oral sex partners in your life, you're 10 times more likely to get oro-pharyngeal cancer."

At first, the cancer, which can also be caused by smoking or alcohol, looks like a sore inside the mouth or throat. If undetected, it can spread to the tongue, tonsils and the back of the throat until it is difficult to eat or talk.

In the late 1980s, people were told that they could not contract HIV through oral sex, which made it more popular, said Van Zyl.

"Oral sex is perceived to be a safer sexual behaviour in an Aids-dominated world," he said.

Maretha Smit, the association's CEO, said it is so concerned by "the alarming increase" in the incidence of oro-pharyngeal cancer that it has launched an educative campaign.

The campaign will also deal with the risks of smoking hubbly-bubbly or hooka pipes, and of chewing the areca nut, which is associated with 60% of all oral cancers in southeast Asia.

The association plans to promote drinking moderate amounts of coffee for the associated health benefits.

It says potent anti-oxidants in coffee "can lower the risk of developing oral cancer".

Van Zyl said that people who have oro-pharyngeal cancer can be cured by four to six weeks of chemotherapy if the cancer is detected early.

He suggested the HPV vaccine should be given not only to girls to prevent cervical cancer, but also to boys to prevent oral cancers linked to the same virus.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has also recommended young boys receive the vaccine, which costs about R2500 in South Africa.