No association between ischemic heart disease and periodontitis in women

A cross-sectional study was conducted.

A random sample of women was used from the participants in a Prospective Population Study of women in Gothenburg that had been initiated in 1968.

Dental examinations were conducted by dentists and included panoramic radiography; a clinical inspection of the teeth, gums and oral mucosa; colour photography of the dentition, and a questionnaire. Myocardial infarction was diagnosed if at least two of the following criteria were present: 1) central chest pain >30 min; 2) transient rise of transaminase activities; and 3) typical electrocardiogram changes of recent onset. Angina pectoris was diagnosed using a questionnaire. The other independent variables were obtained from the medical part of the study and constituted other well-known risk factors for IHD.

Among the dentate women in this study (N = 847), 74 had ischemic heart disease (IHD) and 773 did not. There was no statistically significant difference between numbers of pathological gingival pockets between these groups (58.1% had one or more pathological pockets in the IHD group versus 57.6% in the non-IHD group). Bivariate analysis of dentate individuals showed significant associations between IHD and number of missing teeth, age, body mass index, waist/ hip ratio, life satisfaction, hypertension, and levels of cholesterol and triglycerides. In the final multivariate logistic regression model, however, with the exception of age, only number of teeth [B17 teeth; odds ratio, 2.13; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.20-3.77] was found to be significantly associated with IHD. Moreover, edentulous women had an odds ratio of 1.94 (95% CI, 1.05-3.60) in relation to IHD (age-adjusted model).

In the present study, periodontitis did not seem to have a statistically significant relationship with IHD. The number of missing teeth showed a strong association with IHD, and this may act as a proxy variable tapping an array of different risk factors and behaviours.