Collecting oral mouthwash samples may help in predicting people's risk for developing head and neck cancers.

A total of 132 cases of head and neck cancer were identified during an average of nearly four years of follow-up. The study also included a comparison group of 396 healthy subjects. Mouthwashes samples for head-and-neck cancer cases and for the controls were analyzed for the presence of several types of oral HPVs.
They found that people with HPV-16 in their mouthwash samples were 22 times more likely to develop oropharyngeal cancer than others without any detectable HPV-16 in their samples. They also found for the first time that the presence of other types of oral HPVs--beta- and gamma-HPVs, which are usually detected in the skin--was also associated with the development of head and neck cancers.
Reference: Ilir Agalliu and Robert D. Burk, “Associations of Oral α-, β-, and γ-Human Papillomavirus Types With Risk of Incident Head and Neck Cancer, ”JAMA Oncol. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2015.5504
Source-Medindia