Dental Infections in Kids Tied to Heart Disease Risk in Adulthood
by Robert Glisci, DDS, PC on 05/08/19
Children who develop cavities and gum disease may be more likely to develop risk factors for heart attacks and strokes decades later than kids who have good oral health, a recent study suggests.
Researchers did dental exams for 755 children in 1980, when they were eight years old on average, then followed them through 2007 to see how many of them developed risk factors for heart attacks and strokes like high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, high blood sugar, and hardening of the arteries.
Overall, just 33 kids, or 4.5 percent, had no signs of bleeding, cavities, fillings, or pockets around teeth that can signal gum disease. Almost six percent of the kids had one of these four signs of oral infections, while 17 percent had two signs, 38 percent had three signs, and 34 percent had all four signs.
Kids who had even one sign of oral infection were 87 percent more likely to develop what’s known as subclinical atherosclerosis: structural changes and thickening in the artery walls that isn’t yet serious enough to cause complications.
Children with all four signs of poor oral health were 95 percent more likely to develop this type of artery damage.
Oral infections are among the most common causes of
inflammation-induced diseases worldwide, and periodontal disease in adults have
long been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, researchers
note in JAMA Network Open.
Read more at Reuters Health
