I am the wife of windyjoe and caregiver. He was diagnosed with cancer on the back, base of tongue in June of 2003. He had radiation and chemo. He is left with only liquids for a diet and the swallowing of this is getting almost too much for him. ANYWAY has anyone ever connected their oral cancer to asbestos exposure?? Or at least thought it possible. Joe never smoked or drank alcohol (other than socially). I have been to many web sites about this and it does seem possible. Joe was around asbestos onboard a ship in the U S Navy. Thanks for listening Charlotte (wife of Joe)

Hi Charlotte; As another person who has avoided the big culprits in oral cancer all my life I have often looked at other causes such as asbestos exposure (which I have definitely had.) Once the list starts though, I have to include BBQ meats, bacon, pollution, chlorine etc in the water,viruses, genetic damage and so on.
I wonder about a link, but the research is way behind us on a lot of this stuff.
Has Joe always had problems with swallowing? What does the Doc or Dental oncologist say about it? Some folks develop a narrowing in the esophagus after rads but they can do a dilation procedure to bring some relief and improve quality of life and diet. I might be assuming too much here, but if it's a problem with a remedy it's worth a shot.
It's always a treat to read a post from someone who has a couple of years recovery under their belt. Continued good luck to you both.
Cheers, Fran B.

I too was stationed on a very old pre WWII ship that had asbestos all over the place. It was mainly used to insulate steam pipes and painted over hundreds of times. There was very little risk.

Free floating asbestos can cause mesothelioma, which is a lung condition. I have not heard of it as a causitive factor for OC.

This is not on the list of cancers and other problems that asbestos can cause ( and actually it isn't even on the list of known causes of oral cancers.) I agree with gary's observation. You don't mention HPV 16 /18and that is cause number 3.....

That is Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) of which there are 120 or more different strains. Only a handful (6-9) appear to cause malignancies.

Thank everyone for the replies. I was somewhat surprised that no one seems to have done any research that says that asbestos can cause other cancers. If you go to google and type in malignant tumors of the base of the tongue (no mention of asbestos) the first thing up,e-med and under the section Etiology does bring this up. Another site is the national cancer institute. Search asbestos and click on exposure questions and answers. Other cancers are under question 3. Thanks once again for listening. I have been searching the web and there are hundreds of sites on which this is mentioned. I was just wondering what people with this cancer thought. Charlotte

i to was on board a navy carrier and went thur a 12 month stay in the ship yard as we tore all the asbestos off of it but that was in 1983 and i didnt have cancer till 2002 and of course the doctors said mine was from smoking, to be honest i really dont think anyone can say for sure what caused there cancer as we all are exposed to so much,i did alot of research and there is so much that can cause the big c but for me the main thing is I AM A SUVIVOR

Don't know anything abt. asbestos but the swallowing problem is where my husband and yours share commom ground. Mine has had the dilation of esophagus but the real problem is using the tongue to push the food where it needs to be to swallow. Although he eats very little by mouth, he has found that mushy food such as banana is more difficult than a firmer type such as apple. Puddings, mashed potatoes, and the like are SO difficult/impossible. He eats soups easily and you can get quite creative w/ those (try homemade split pea, cream of spinach, chicken based ones made w/ dark meat for moistness--to vary things are give nutrition).

Thanks for the suggestions mawalton!!! Our problem is that all his teeth were pulled before radiation. He got radiation poison anyway and still has exposed jaw bones. Eight weeks of hyperbaric oxygen treatment and still no success. He can not have anything done about the narrow opening other than surgery and then there would be no healing. Tomorrow he has a small tumor removed from his tongue and we are praying that this will heal. Will try and let everyone know.