Metabolic Profiling of Individuals with Missing Teeth and Tooth Loss

Abstract

Missing teeth have been linked to incident cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and all-cause mortality. Our previous study revealed that signs of oral infections and inflammatory conditions (i.e., periodontal disease and dental caries) are associated with disadvantageous features of circulating metabolites. This study investigates whether missing teeth and tooth loss, the end points of these diseases, are associated with similar metabolic features. The 2 Finnish population-based studies Health-2000 ( n = 6,197) and FINRISK-97 ( n = 6,050) were included, as was Parogene ( n = 465), a cohort of patients with an indication for coronary angiography. The number of teeth was recorded in clinical examinations. Serum concentrations of 157 metabolites were determined by a nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy–based method. Health-2000 participants ( n = 3,371) provided follow-up serum samples, and 1,186 of them participated in a repeated oral examination 11 y after the baseline. Linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, smoking, body mass index, and diabetes were fitted to the number of teeth and metabolite measures. The results from the separate cohorts were combined in a fixed-effects meta-analysis. We also analyzed whether the number of teeth at baseline and tooth loss during follow-up were associated with changes in metabolite concentrations. Missing teeth were associated with increased very-low-density lipoprotein–related measures and triglyceride concentrations, as well as with decreased high-density lipoprotein parameters and small particle size. Missing teeth also had an association with low levels of unsaturated fatty acids (FAs), including omega-3 and omega-6 FAs, and elevated proportions of monounsaturated and saturated FAs. The number of teeth at baseline predicted changes in several concentrations, such as measures related to intermediate-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, and FAs, but no associations with tooth loss during the 11-y follow-up were observed. To conclude, missing teeth are associated with adverse metabolic features characterized by systemic inflammation and several risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases.