Doctor claims oral sex has surpassed smoking and alcohol as greatest risk ... trends now
A doctor on TikTok has claimed oral sex is the number one cause of throat cancer.
Dr Daria Sadovskaya, 29, from Singapore, posted a video last month about the link between performing oral sex on a partner and the potentially life-threatening disease.
Traditionally, tobacco use and excessive alcohol consumption are thought to be the two greatest risk factors for developing throat cancer.
But when one of Dr Sadovskaya's hundreds of thousands of followers asked 'Are you saying oral sex is proven to be the number one cause of throat cancer?', she replied by mouthing to the song lyrics: 'I said what I said.'
Doctors say that increasingly, human papillomavirus (HPV), a family of viruses that infect the genitals and can be transferred to the throat during oral sex, are the source of throat cancers.
Michael Douglas famously claimed HPV was the cause of his throat cancer.
Projected annual number of oropharynx cancer cases in the US. Cancer of the oropharynx can occur on the back one-third of your tongue, soft palate, tonsils, and side and back walls of the throat, and is often referred to as oropharyngeal cancer
Doctors have warned that HPV — the world's most common STD — is the leading risk factor for throat cancer in men and women (stock)
Oral sex can lead to an HPV infection at the back of the throat or near the tonsil.
HPV are most well known for their links to cervical cancers but is behind about one in 20 cancers worldwide - including of the mouth, throat, penis and anus.
These infections go away on their own in most cases but sometimes can persist and cause throat cancer, a general term that refers to cancer that grows in the throat, called pharyngeal cancer, or in the voice box, called laryngeal cancer.
Most throat cancers involve the same kinds of cells, but specific terms are used to categorize the area of the throat where the cancer originated.
Nasopharyngeal cancer begins in the nasopharynx, which is the part of your throat just behind your nose.
Oropharyngeal cancer begins in the oropharynx — the part of your throat right behind your mouth that includes your tonsils.
Hypopharyngeal cancer, also known as laryngopharyngeal cancer, begins in the hypopharynx (also known as the laryngopharynx) — the lower part of your throat, just above your esophagus and windpipe.
In 2023, an estimated 54,540 American adults will be diagnosed with oral cavity or oropharyngeal cancer, and 11,580 will die from the
