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Background/aim: In this study, we aimed to assess the cancer risk among patients with periodontal disease., Materials and Methods: Patients diagnosed with periodontal diseases at Hacettepe University between 2007 and 2012 were included and data on the diagnosis of any cancer after periodontal disease were collected from patient files. The age- and sex-standardized incidence rates (SIRs) were calculated using Turkish National Cancer Registry 2013 data., Results: A total of 5199 patients were included. Median follow-up was 7.2 years. Patients with periodontal diseases had 17% increased risk of cancer compared with the expected counts for the corresponding age and sex groups (SIR: 1.17; 95% CI: 1.04–1.3, P = 0.006). The increased cancer risk was statistically significant in women (SIR: 1.24; 95% CI: 1.05–1.45, P = 0.008) but not in men. Among women with periodontal disease, the risks of breast cancer (SIR: 2.19) and head and neck cancer (SIR: 4.71) were significantly increased. Among men, the risks of prostate cancer (SIR: 1.84), head and neck cancer (SIR: 3.55), and hematological cancers (SIR: 1.76) were significantly increased., Conclusion: This study showed that periodontal diseases were associated with increased risk of several cancers. Besides other well-known benefits for health, the provision of oral/dental health should be considered and employed as a cancer prevention measure., (This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)