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Taking oral health to heart: an overview
1Department of Periodontics and Endodontics, Center for Dental Studies, State University of New York at Buffalo, Room 250, Squire Hall, 3435 Main St., Buffalo, N.Y. 14214, USA.
Background:
This article is an introduction to the 2001 ADA symposium, "Taking Oral Health to Heart," which focused on the relationship between periodontal disease and cardiovascular disease. This overview describes the databases and terminology used in discussions of epidemiologic studies on this topic.
Conclusions:
In determining if a certain disease, medication or condition is a risk factor for another entity, one must carefully evaluate and analyze the data, weigh the various other contributing risk factors and then determine the mechanism of interaction if an association is established.
Clinical Implications:
This symposium provided practitioners with various concepts regarding the role of periodontal disease as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and the data presented represent the state of the art.