Number of teeth and cardiovascular risk

Oral-Systemic Connections Number of teeth and cardiovascular risk Background.—The composition of the serum lipids has recently been shown to accurately predict future cardiovascular events in middle-aged persons; the effect is less reliable in elderly persons. Obesity, high serum cholesterol level, and low serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level can be modified by dietary changes, which are partially influenced by the number of teeth a person has. Relationships between number of teeth in elderly patients and body weight or serum lipid contents have been sought but no consistent results have yet been identified. Evidence of a relationship between the number of teeth and certain cardiovascular risk factors in persons aged R75 years was the focus of a study in Finland. Methods.—Participants in the Kuopio 75þ study were selected for this study. The 523 subjects lived in the community and underwent structured clinical health examinations, an interview, and laboratory tests. Statistical methods were applied to analyze the resulting data. Results.—The high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels of subjects with many teeth were higher than for subjects with few or no teeth. In addition, the triglyceride levels, body mass index, leukocyte levels, and glucose levels of subjects with many teeth were lower than in subjects with few or no teeth. Findings indicating subjects were at higher risk for cardiovascular disease were more likely to exist among edentulous persons or those with fewer teeth that in those having more teeth. However, no relationship

was noted between serum total cholesterol level and the number of teeth. Discussion.—In general, persons with more teeth were more likely to have indicators of better cardiovascular status than persons with fewer or no teeth. However, some deviations from this pattern were noted. Dietary habits were not evaluated, so it is difficult to analyze what potential mechanisms may be at work to produce these findings.

Clinical Significance.—Older people with more teeth seemed to have more favorable serum lipid characteristics than those who had fewer or no teeth. Further study is needed to determine what having fewer or more teeth entails in these home-living Finnish elderly people, but it is an interesting relationship that should be investigated more thoroughly.

€stalo P, Hartikainen S, et al: Number of teeth and Syrj€al€a A-MH, Ylo selected cardiovascular risk factors among elderly people. Gerodontology 27:189-192, 2010 Reprints available from A-M Syrj€al€a, Dept of Periodontology, Inst of Dentistry, PO Box 5281, Univ of Oulu, FI-90401 Oulu, Finland; fax: þ358 8 537 5560; e-mail: [email protected]

Oral-Systemic Health Periodontal therapy and diabetes mellitus Background.—A Cochrane review was undertaken to determine the effect of periodontal therapy on the activity and/or severity of diabetes. Data were collected from The Cochrane Oral Health Group’s Trials Register, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, ZETOC, ISIWeb of Knowledge, and LILACS databases as well as past issues of the Annals of Periodontology and Periodontology. The data included randomized controlled trials of persons with type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) who were diagnosed with periodontitis and underwent interventions such as mechanical

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Dental Abstracts

periodontal therapy with or without adjunctive therapies and oral hygiene instruction. Analysis of the seven studies found that there was a significant reduction in HbA1c when scaling and root planing were performed. However, most of the participants had poorly controlled type 2 DM, the few studies that were available tended to lack the power to detect a significant effect, and few data were available for patients with type 1 DM. Analysis.—This study represented the first effort to link periodontal therapy and systemic disease using the