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Oral health and cardiovascular disease in Sweden
K Buhlin1, A Gustafsson, J Håkansson
1Karolinska Institutet, Institute of Odontology, Department of Periodontology, Stockholm, Sweden.
Objective:
The purpose of the present study was to assess the relation between dental health and cardiovascular disease in an adult Swedish population.
Material And Method:
A questionnaire was sent to 4811 randomly selected Swedes. It contained 52 questions about dental care habits, oral health, cardiovascular disease and their socio-economic situation. Odd ratios for all cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and the subgroup myocardial infarction, stroke and high blood pressure were calculated with a logistic regression model adjusted for age, gender, smoking, income, civil status and education. These ratios were calculated for subjects > or =41 years since few people suffer from CVD before this.
Results:
The national questionnaire was answered by 2839 (59%) people between 20-84 years of age and, of them, 1577 were 41 years of age or more. We found a significant association between self-reported bleeding gums (odds ratio 1.60, p=0.0017), presence of dentures (odds ratio 1.57, p=0.0076) and known CVD, which has also been reported in international studies. However, no association between loose teeth, deep pockets and known CVD was detected.
Conclusion:
The results indicate that oral health and, especially gingival inflammation is associated with CVD.