Periodontitis and cardiovascular disease- a 2 way relationship

Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory state that has an effect on the supporting tissues of the teeth. The load of periodontal pathogens, antigens, endotoxins, and inflammatory cytokines of periodontal disease contribute in to the process of atherogenesis and thromboembolic events. Certain individuals may manifest increased levels of local and systemic inflammatory mediators which places them at an amplified risk for cardiovascular events. Case-control, cross-sectional, and longitudinal studies have established that periodontal disease is related with cardiovascular events, even after equalizing many confounding variables associated with both the conditions. There is budding substantiation that research carried out in the peripheral circulation correlates with the coronary circulation and provides data which will be useful for forecasting the development of heart disease. For that reason the aim of this study was to substantiate the possible association between periodontal disease and atherosclerosis on the common carotid and the brachial artery.