2020 IADR/AADR/CADR General Session

The 98th General Session & Exhibition of the IADR was to be held in conjunction with the 49th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental Research and the 44th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, from March 18-21, 2020 in Washington, D.C., USA. Due to COVID 19 and the world pandemic, the meeting had to be canceled, but we were able to collect some of the science that was planned for presentation to be available to our members as part of an on demand meeting.

The recordings in this library are a selection of the science that was to be presented onsite at the General Session. These recordings give you the opportunity to participate in the meeting and hear from leading researchers. The recordings include IADR Distinguished Lecture Series speakers, IADR Centennial Plenaries and symposia from a collection of scientific groups and networks.

This session can be purchased as part of the full meeting recordings within the product bundles

Session Description

The symposium will address the role of areca nut chewing in the causation of oral cancer and its role in global health. Areca nut is a popular chewing substance consumed mostly by lower socio economic strata in Asia and by the Pacific islanders.Areca nut is the principal ingredient of betel quid. It is chewed to postpone hunger and as a stimulant and is a habit of great antiquity. Though the habit is prevalent in India chewing betel quid is also widely prevalent among migrant communities arising therefrom, particularly among the older Indian residents in the USA, Europe and Australia. It is estimated that over 600 million people may use this substance globally. In the past few decades areca nut has been commercially packaged and marketed in sachets that has been attractive to young people. Areca nut is highly addictive and a "dependency syndrome" among its regular users was initially described by the scientists working at King's College London.

In 2004, International Agency for Research on Cancer having evaluated the available evidence categorised areca nut as a class 1 carcinogen. In 2011, World Workshop on Oral Medicine found evidence that areca nut is the major cause of oral submucous fibrosis that eventually leads to oral cancer in a high proportion of cases. High prevalence of areca nut use among Indians explains why oral cancer is one of the leading cancers in the Indian subcontinent. There has been very little progress in patient education and on assisting areca nut users to quit the habit. Mobile technology (e-health) could be harnessed for public education in India and in neighbouring countries. Reducing health inequalities in the Indian subcontinent will assist areca nut users mostly from poorer societies to access care at early stages of the disease. Lack of professional awareness that areca nut causes oral cancer is a matter of concern and continuing professional development courses should address this gap of knowledge. We have not discussed this topic in any symposia in the past IADR general meetings.

Chair: John Greenspan – University of California - San Francisco
Organizer: Saman Warnakulasuriya, FDSRCS, PhD, DSc, FKC – King's College London

Learning Objectives:

• To highlight the widely prevalent use of areca nut (betel quid) among poorer communities in the globe particularly in Asia with poor access to healthcare. Use of areca nut by migrant societies will also be addressed. Areca nut is an addictive substance and causes mouth cancer.
• Many health professionals are unaware that areca nut causes oral cancer. The objective is to synthesise and present the epidemiological and experimental evidence on areca nut as a major risk factor of oral cancer.
• Areca nut is known to cause oral submucous fibrosis. The objective is to help to understand the clinical presentation and management of oral submucous fibrosis - an intermediate stage before cancer development
• To discuss models for areca nut-cessation (assisting to quit) taking into context the social and cultural attributes among its users.