Teeth, gums and heart health
This is not a topic I would normally be interested in posting. However, I read a lot and this article in the current issue of the American Journal of Cardiology caught my attention. It talks about chronic inflammation of the gums (periodontitis) and the increased risk of heart disease. It's worth noting that simple , daily care of your teeth and gums protects your heart too.
Just an FYI for all my heart health interested friends.
Relation of Periodontitis to Risk of Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality (from a Danish Nationwide Cohort Study)
Gorm Mørk Hansen, MD et al
Published Online: May 31, 2016
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amjcard.2016.05.036
Periodontitis and atherosclerosis are highly prevalent chronic inflammatory diseases, and it has been suggested that periodontitis is an independent risk factor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and that a causal link may exist between the 2 diseases. Using Danish national registers, we identified a nationwide cohort of 17,691 patients who received a hospital diagnosis of periodontitis within a 15-year period and matched them with 83,003 controls from the general population. We performed Poisson regression analysis to determine crude and adjusted incidence rate ratios of myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, cardiovascular death, major adverse cardiovascular events, and all-cause mortality. The results showed that patients with periodontitis were at higher risk of all examined end points. The findings remained significant after adjustment for increased baseline co-morbidity in periodontitis patients compared with controls, for example, with adjusted incidence rate ratio 2.02 (95% CI 1.87 to 2.18) for cardiovascular death and 2.70 (95% CI 2.60 to 2.81) for all-cause mortality. Patients with a hospital diagnosis of periodontitis have a high burden of co-morbidity and an increased risk of CVD and all-cause mortality. In conclusion, our results support that periodontitis may be an independent risk factor for CVD.