The association between periodontal disease, tooth loss and bone mineral density in a Korean population

We aimed to evaluate whether clinical attachment loss (CAL), a measure of the severity of periodontal disease or number of teeth present is associated with bone mineral density (BMD).

The study population consisted of 5383 people aged 50 years and older who participated in the Dong-gu Study. BMD at the lumbar spine and femoral neck was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Oral examination included assessments of the number of teeth present and CAL. Number of teeth present was categorized into three equal categories. CAL values were divided into tertiles in terms of the percentage of sites with CAL ≥4 mm. Analysis of covariance was used to compare the adjusted means of BMD according to the tooth number and the tertiles of CAL.

There was a significant association between the number of teeth present and BMD in men. Compared with men with 22 or more teeth, men with 10 and less teeth had lower BMD. CAL was significantly associated with lower BMD at the lumbar spine in women.

Our data indicate that tooth loss and CAL were associated with low BMD. However, the magnitude of these associations was relatively small and the clinical significance was unclear.