Vascular diseases and oral infections

Vascular diseases are multifactorial, and several risk factors, such as increasing age, male sex, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemias and smoking, are well-known. In recent studies, associations have also been found between preceding infections and development of myocardial or cerebral infarction. Preceding acute respiratory infections are reported to be more common in patients with myocardial or cerebral infarction. Cerebral infarction may follow infective endocarditis, bacterial meningitis or any other bacteremic infection. Oral infections are common chronic bacterial infections. Although oral infections are local, they may lead to systemic infectious complications via stransient bacteremias, and there may also be other systemic effects, for instance, via immunologic or toxic mechanisms. Association between oral infections and vascular diseases has been studied in 2 Finnish case-control studies concerning myocardial and cerebral infarction. In these case-control studies, it was found that oral infections were more common in patients with myocardial or cerebral infarction than in their age- and sex-matched community controls. There are many factors, such as diabetes, smoking and alcohol abuse, which may predispose to both development of infarction and oral infections. Therefore, the observed association between oral infections and vascular diseases may result from these common predisposing factors, and causality between them cannot be inferred. There are, however, several possible links between oral infections and infarction. Although causality between oral infections and infarction cannot be proven, patients who have poor oral health need health education, paying attention to those common risk factors of oral infections and vascular diseases. Furthermore, their oral infections should be treated, because they may predispose to infectious complications, which may lead to infarction.