To: Rudy Saucillo who wrote (1035 ) 2/17/1998 2:28:00 PM From: Rudy Saucillo Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 2742
Finnish researchers have human case studies showing a link between periodontal disease and heart attack. Here are 2 relevant abstracts: Dental infections as a risk factor for acute myocardial infarction. Mattila KJ First Department of Medicine, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland. Eur Heart J 1993 Dec;14 Suppl K:51-53 The so-called classic risk factors of coronary heart disease (CHD) do not explain all its clinical and epidemiological features. Recent evidence suggests that certain infections, among them dental infections, are involved in the pathogenesis of CHD. Case-control studies have revealed an association between dental infections and acute myocardial infarction and chronic coronary heart disease. A large epidemiological survey revealed an association between missing teeth and CHD and a recent 14-year follow-up of 9760 individuals showed that periodontitis is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease. Preliminary results suggest that the severity of dental infections correlates with the extent of coronary atheromatosis. Individuals with severe dental infections also have higher level of von Willebrand factor antigen, leukocytes and fibrinogen. Streptococcus sanguis has been shown to aggregate human platelets in vitro. The mechanism behind the association between dental infections and CHD could be the effect of bacteria on the cells taking part in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and arterial thrombosis. Dental infections and coronary atherosclerosis. Mattila KJ, Valle MS, Nieminen MS, Valtonen VV, Hietaniemi KL First Department of Medicine, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland. Atherosclerosis 1993 Nov;103(2):205-211 An association between dental and other bacterial infections and coronary heart disease has recently been observed in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. To elucidate this topic, the severity of dental infections and coronary atheromatosis was assessed, together with measurements of the conventional coronary risk factors, in 100 individuals (88 men, 12 women, mean age 48, range 28-68 years) referred for diagnostic coronary angiography. Pantomography X-rays and coronary angiograms of the participants were scored blindly by single observers, a dentist and a radiologist respectively. The median pantomography score was 3.0 in male individuals belonging to the highest tertile of coronary atheromatosis score, as compared with 0.0 among the rest of the male participants (P = 0.003). The association between dental infections and severe coronary atheromatosis in males remained significant after adjusting for the effect of age, blood lipids, body mass index, hypertension, smoking and social class. No association between dental infections and coronary atheromatosis was observed in the small number of females studied. This observation supports the proposal that bacterial infections play a role in the pathogenesis of coronary atherosclerosis. Rudy