Periodontal Disease And Its Impact on Health, From Cardiovascular Diseases to Metabolic Syndrome

As the life expectancy of the population increases, we are increasingly confronted with chronic diseases. Periodontal disease and chronic inflammatory diseases have in common the development of an inflammatory response. Recently, studies have shown that there is an increasingly clear link between the inflammatory mechanisms of periodontal disease and those of chronic inflammatory diseases such as diabetes, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular problems, and so on. The aim of this work is to present the results of the most recent studies on the bi-directional relationship between periodontitis and some chronic systemic diseases: cardiovascular risk, coronaropathy, atherosclerosis, obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. To do so, we carried out a bibliographic review based on 29 articles, 2 books and a web page. The articles were searched on the PUBMED database, and 23 of them were published after 2012. Periodontal disease, through complex chain reaction mechanisms, has an impact not only on oral health, but also on the overall health of the host. It is an important cardiovascular and inflammatory risk factor. A periodontitis, if diagnosed and treated in time, may not involve so much morbidity. Studies of periodontal disease are increasing in number and tend to show increasing links with other diseases, such as respiratory diseases, renal diseases and pregnancy accidents.