Because of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), rates of cancer of the palatine and lingual tonsils are increasing. Writing today in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, the Hopkins team led by head-and-neck surgeon Carole Fakhry call the increase “rapid” and partly attributable to “the sexual revolution” on a global scale—people starting younger and having more net partners.

“Concurrent with a change in sexual behavior,” the researchers write, people are not getting their tonsils taken out. That has created a breeding ground for oral cancer. Indeed, Fakhry and colleagues report that 77 percent of tonsil cancers in Denmark between 2000 and 2010 were related to HPV. In today’s study, the team evaluated more than three million Danish patients in a 35-year database and found that palatine tonsil removal was associated with a 60 to 85 percent decrease in tonsillar cancers.

Ultimately it seems obvious that if you get your tonsils taken out, and they are floating in a jar on your shelf, those tonsils cannot turn cancerous. So your risk of cancer will be that much lower. The question raised by the researchers, then, is if rates of oral cancers are increasing as HPV spreads, would this be a worthwhile procedure for everyone to have?