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 Researchers did dental exams for 755 children in 1980, when they
were eight years old on average, then followed them through 2007 to
see how many of them developed risk factors for heart attacks and
strokes like high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, high blood
sugar, and hardening of the arteries.
Overall, just 33 kids, or 4.5 percent, had no signs of bleeding,
cavities, fillings, or pockets around teeth that can signal gum
disease. Almost six percent of the kids had one of these four signs
of oral infections, while 17 percent had two signs, 38 percent had
three signs, and 34 percent had all four signs.
Kids who had even one sign of oral infection were 87 percent more
likely to develop what's known as subclinical atherosclerosis:
structural changes and thickening in the artery walls that isn't yet
serious enough to cause complications.
Children with all four signs of poor oral health were 95 percent
more likely to develop this type of artery damage.
Oral infections are among the most common causes of
inflammation-induced diseases worldwide, and periodontal disease in
adults have long been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular
disease, researchers note in JAMA Network Open.
Most people get cavities and gum disease for the first time in
childhood, and these conditions can develop into more serious
infections and tooth loss if they aren't properly treated, the study
authors note. Treating these oral health problems in childhood can
also reduce inflammation and other risk factors for hardening of the
arteries.
"This emphasizes how important good oral hygiene and frequent
check-ups with a dentist starting early in life are for general
health," said lead study author Pirkko Pussinen of the University of
Helsinki in Finland.
"The children with a healthy mouth had a better cardiovascular risk
profile (lower blood pressure, body mass index, glucose, and
cholesterol) throughout the whole follow-up period," Pussinen said
by email.
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More than four in five kids had cavities and fillings, and 68
percent of them also had bleeding during dental exams. Slight
pocketing around the gums was observed in 54 percent of the kids,
although it was more often found in boys than in girls.
Both cavities and pocketing that can signal gum disease were
associated with thickening of walls of the carotid arteries, blood
vessels in the neck that carry blood from the heart to the brain.
This indicates the progression of atherosclerosis and an increased
risk for heart attacks and strokes.
The study wasn't a controlled experiment designed to prove whether
or how cavities or other oral health problems might directly cause
heart attacks or strokes. Not everyone with subclinical
atherosclerosis or other risk factors will go on to have a heart
attack or stroke.
Poor oral health in childhood was also associated with an increase
in blood pressure and body mass index in early adulthood, noted
co-author of an accompanying editorial Dr. Salim Virani of Baylor
College of Medicine and the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in
Houston.
"These could themselves be associated with poor heart health in
adulthood," Virani said by email. Systemic inflammation associated
with poor oral health is also linked to heart disease and stroke,
Virani added.
"Either the relationship shown in this study is causal or there are
yet unmeasured confounders (risk factors) that are associated with
both poor oral health as well as future risk of cardiovascular
disease," Virani said. "For example, could poor oral health be a
marker of poor nutrition which itself is associated with
cardiovascular disease, or could poor oral health be a marker of
lower socioeconomic status which itself may be associated with
higher risk of cardiovascular disease in the future?"
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2IQMLk8 JAMA Network Open, online April 26,
2019.
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