George,

I drank and smoke heavily for over 20 years but stopped both in July 2002. My SCC diagnosis was last year and it resulted from the HPV 16 virus. I would be happy to share my experience in quitting drinking and smoking with you. The propect of facing life without a drink seemed daunting to me 7 years ago but now I lead a happy and rewarding life without it. Please contact me via e-mail if you would like to discuss the matter directly.

Your MD may tell you that an occasional glass of wine is ok. Though some mwill be totally against any drinking at all. You should ask, but I'm betting it will be ok, in moderation.

Hi George,
Our consultant said, spirits are very bad, particularly the dark ones, Wine is bad, lager/beer is not so bad but has chemicals and ale, bitter or stout (like guiness) are ok - in moderation of course.
But then martin still cannot drink any alcohol yet as it still tastes like battery acid.
Cecilia

Hi Frank - I have been drinking a large bottle of red wine every night (sometimes almost two) for the past 3.5 years. I am now 52 years old and have smoked at least 1 pack of cigarettes a day since I was 17. My cancer diagnosis has really scared me and I have stopped drinking and stopped smoking as of today. Sure, its very difficult to stop both at once but I'm not stupid. I'm only taking it one day at a time. If I can just stop for today I'm OK with that. Did you have to have a cancer diagnosis to get yourself to stop? I'd love to hear about your experience.

George

Clearly alcohol is a causative agents for OC, especially together with smoking.
With this it is the alcohol in the drink that is a problem and not the color. (IF any anything I would prefer red over white wine).

It does make sense to assume that the higher the alcohol content is the bigger the issue is.
ie 40% vs 11% vs 5%. I would expect that it also depends HOW and how much you drink. i.e. a glass of wine vs a 6 pack of beer. Do you chase our drink with water etc....
Alcohol can irritate/dehydrate oral tissues (again this is more severe for high % drinks). It is also metabolized to acetadehyde (in the oral tissue) which is carcinogenic locally. The more exposure you have orally (both in % and contact time) the more serous it is. I do not think that once the alcohol (in MODERATE AMOUNTS please) is past the oral tissue that it will cause major problems with the oral tissue from that point on because what comes back with the blood supply is very dilute.
NOTE the above seems reasonable but I am not aware of any real trial data supporting this. Neither do I advocate drinking after OC.

M