Osteoporosis and Periodontitis: Two-Way Epidemiological and Mechanistic Evidence

 The profession is learning more and more about "the oral-systemic connection".  For lay folks, that basically means that the mouth and body are connected.  The human oral cavity is an advanced organ system  (part of the digestive tract) and can affect the rest of the body in many ways... and not all of them are good.  Lots of research is being done on ways that the mouth can impact the health of the entire body and, conversely, how the body can impact the health of the oral cavity.  Information is being assembled constantly.

In fact, I recently interviewed my friend Dr. Ed Zuckerberg about this very topic on "The Technology Evangelist Podcast".  The episode is Episode 46:  Dr. Ed Zuckerberg on the Oral Systemic Connection and Periodontal Disease Research and is available to stream by following the link.  Ed is one of the profession's most knowledgeable experts on this topic and the episode is fascinating.

However, today's post isn't just about the episode.  As I said above, lots of research is being done on this broad topic and some of the findings definitely bear bringing your attention to.  A recent article published in The Journal of Periodontal Research takes a look at the link between osteoporosis and periodontitis.  

The article titled "Osteoporosis and Periodontitis:  "Two-Way Epidemiological and Mechanistic Evidence" states:

 Strong epidemiological evidence shows an association between the two diseases, in which osteoporosis patients have an increased risk of periodontitis, specifically in postmenopausal women.  

As most of us already know, osteoporosis and periodontal disease are both disease processes that can affect a wide variety of people and can cause significant problems.  Not the least of which is loss of quality of life.  Our medical science is growing exponentially and because of that people are living much, much longer than in previous generations.  However, I'll state that life without quality isn't the goal we all have in mind.  That applies both to the general population and those of us in healthcare.  Osteoporosis and periodontitis are highly prevalent, chronic inflammatory diseases that constitute a major global health burden.   We need to find better methodologies to deal with them.

This study concludes:  Our review found abundant clinical evidence that osteoporosis is linked to a notably higher risk of severe periodontitis, likely due to estrogen deficiency affecting bone metabolism. Clinical data on how periodontitis impacts the prevalence and progression of osteoporosis remain limited, although some studies suggest an association between periodontitis and osteoporosis, especially in postmenopausal women.

This is definitely a subject that the profession needs to be aware of.  I advise giving the study an objective read and to bear the info in mind as you perform your patient interviews and examinations.  The study can be found with this link.