AN UPDATE ON PERIODONTAL MEDECINE : Associations Between Periodontal Disease and Atherosclerosis, Lung Disease and Adverse pregnancy outcomes.

There has been increasing interest over the past 10 years in the role of oral infection in various systemic conditions, including diseases resulting from atherosclerosis, lung diseases such as pneumonia and COPD, and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Most of the supporting data comes from case-control and cross-sectional epidemiologic studies. From these studies we may conclude the following: the available data suggests that PD appears to be modestly associated with atherosclerosis-induced diseases such as cardiovascular disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease; oral colonization by respiratory pathogens appears to be a risk factor for lung infection in high-risk subjects; oral interventions that improve oral hygiene and possibly reduce oral inflammation appear to lower the risk for lung infection in institutionalized subjects; further studies are required to verify the apparent association between PD and COPD; and periodontal disease may significantly increase the risk for preterm low birth weight children. Presently, these data must be regarded as preliminary. Additional large-scale longitudinal epidemiologic studies and resulting from atherosclerosis, lung disease such as pneumonia and COPD and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Presently, the data must be regarded as preliminary. Additional large-scale longitudinal epidemiologic and interventional studies are necessary to validate these associations and to determine if the association are causal.