Interconnection of periodontal disease and comorbidities: Evidence, mechanisms, and implications

Abstract

Periodontitis, a microbiome-driven inflammatory disease of the tooth-attachment apparatus, is epidemiologically linked with other disorders, including cardio-metabolic, cognitive neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases, respiratory infections, and certain cancers. These associations may, in part, be causal, as suggested by interventional studies showing that local treatment of periodontitis reduces systemic inflammation and surrogate markers of comorbid diseases. The potential cause-and-effect connection between periodontitis and comorbidities is corroborated by studies in preclinical models of disease, which additionally provided mechanistic insights into these associations. This overview discusses recent advances in our understanding of the periodontitis-systemic disease connection, which may potentially lead to innovative therapeutic options to reduce the risk of periodontitis-linked comorbidities.

Keywords: COVID-19; Periodontitis; arthritis; atherosclerosis; comorbidity; oral pathogens; systemic inflammation.

Figure 1:. Periodontitis and comorbidities.

The indicated periodontitis-associated disorders are reviewed in this volume.

Figure 2:. Potential mechanisms connecting periodontitis to systemic inflammation.

For details on the indicated mechanisms (1-4) see text and relevant reviews in this volume.