14 DAY TRIAL // Investigators at the Columbia University (CU) Mailman School of Public Health determined in a new study that proper periodontal health can contribute to reducing the progression of heart diseases such as atherosclerosis. The work focused on how this condition progressed depending on test subjects' dental care habits.
The team accounted for factors such as brushing, flossing, and regular dental visits, and how they influence gum health; then they correlated gum health to the progression of heart diseases. In a paper published in the online issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association, they explain that the connection was clinically and statistically relevant.
“This is the most direct evidence yet that modifying the periodontal bacterial profile could play a role in preventing or slowing both diseases,” explains Mailman School epidemiology professor Moïse Desvarieux, PhD, the lead author of the study.
The group focused its research on 420 adults enrolled in INVEST (the Oral Infections and Vascular Disease Epidemiology Study). Each participant was followed up with for a period of 3 years, EurekAlert reports.