Periodontitis is a significant risk factor for coronary artery disease, with the level of association increasing with the extent of the periodontal lesions, according to a study published in the September issue of Journal of Periodontology.
Researchers studied 108 people with coronary artery disease, or CAD, with a mean age of 59 years and a group of 62 people without CAD with a similar mean age of 58 years. To compare the periodontal health between groups, researchers evaluated probing depth, periodontal pocket bleeding index, plaque index, furcation involvements and tooth mobility for each subject. They also ranked the subjects, using the periodontal index for risk of infectiousness to quantify the risk of release of proinflammatory mediators from the periodontal sites.
Periodontitis occurred in 91 percent of subjects with CAD compared with 66 percent of control subjects, a significant difference. Proportions of mobile teeth, bleeding sites, periodontal pockets and involved furcations were significantly higher in subjects with CAD than in control subjects, and the extent of the periodontal disease present was greater in subjects with CAD than in control subjects.
After conducting a logistic model adjusted for known cardiovascular risk factors, researchers found a strong association between CAD and periodontitis and a significant dose-response relationship between increasing scores of the periodontal risk of infectiousness and the presence of CAD.
"This study supports earlier findings, and it even showed a significantly higher prevalence of periodontal diseases in cardiac patients," said Dr. Michael P. Rethman, president of the American Academy of Periodontology. "There is still much research to be done to understand the link between periodontal diseases and systemic diseases, such as cardiovascular, and difficult-to-control diabetes."
