Heart disease warning: Losing more than two teeth in middle age could increase your risk
LOSING more than two teeth in middle age could raise your risk of heart disease by almost 25 per cent, scientists warned today. The results showed this was irrespective of how well you ate or how much exercise you did, as well as your cholesterol levels or weight.
Dental health problems are related to inflammation, diabetes, smoking and consuming less healthy diets, according to the researchers.
The Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health carried out the study on a large group of 45-69 year olds with no sign of heart disease.
They looked at the number of teeth they had and then followed their tooth loss over eight years.
They then followed an incidence of cardiovascular disease among people with no tooth loss, one tooth lost and two or more teeth lost over 12-18 years.
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Professor of epidemiology at Tulane, Dr Lu Qi said: “Previous research has also found that dental health issues are associated with elevated risk of cardiovascular disease.
“However, most of that research looked at cumulative tooth loss over a lifetime, which often includes teeth lost in childhood due to cavities, trauma and orthodontics.
“Tooth loss in middle age is more likely related to inflammation, but it hasn't been clear how this later-in-life tooth loss might influence cardiovascular disease risk.
“It seems losing two or more teeth in middle age is associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk.“
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The study was presented at the American Heart Association Meeting.
They found that of the adults with 25 to 32 natural teeth at the study's start, those who lost two or more teeth had a 23 percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease, compared to those with no tooth loss.
However those who had only lost one tooth had no increase in heart disease and those who had less than 17 natural teeth at the start had a 25 per cent increased risk.
The risk occurred regardless of reported diet quality, physical activity, body weight and other cardiovascular risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.
Cardiovascular disease risk among all the participants (regardless of the number of natural teeth at the study's start) increased 16 percent among those losing two or more teeth during the study period, compared to those who didn't lose any teeth.
Prof Qi added: “In addition to other established associations between dental health and risk of disease, our findings suggest that middle-aged adults who have lost two or more teeth in recent past could be at increased risk for cardiovascular disease.
“That's regardless of the number of natural teeth a person has as a middle-aged adult, or whether they have traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as poor diet or high blood pressure.”
“Armed with the knowledge that tooth loss in middle age can signal elevated cardiovascular disease risk, adults can take steps to reduce the increased risk early on.”
He mentioned that the fact that the tooth loss was self-reported might lead to a misclassification in his study.
