Association of socio-demographic, behavioral, and comorbidity-related factors with severity of periodontitis in Turkish patients

Association of Dental Caries with Muscle Mass, Muscle Strength, and Sarcopenia: A Community-Based Study

OBJECTIVES

Changes in the oral cavity can reflect other changes throughout the body. This study aimed to investigate the association of dental caries with muscle mass, muscle strength, and sarcopenia, and also to describe the microbial diversity, composition, and community structure of severe dental caries and sarcopenia.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study based on a Chinese population aged from 50 to 85 years.

SETTING

Communities from Lanxi City, Zhejiang Province, China.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 1,442 participants aged from 50 to 85 years from a general community (62.8% women; median age 61.0 [interquartile range: 55.0, 68.0]).

MEASUREMENTS

Dental caries was assessed by the decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) index. Sarcopenia was defined as the presence of both low muscle mass (assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scanning) and low muscle strength (assessed by handgrip strength). Multivariate logistic regression models were used to analyze the association of dental caries with muscle mass, muscle strength, and sarcopenia. Fecal samples underwent 16S rRNA profiling to evaluate the diversity and composition of the gut microbiota in patients with severe dental caries and/or sarcopenia.

RESULTS

In the fully adjusted logistic models, dental caries was positively associated with low muscle strength (DMFT ≥ 7: OR, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.25-2.06), and sarcopenia (DMFT ≥ 7: OR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.01-2.26), but not low muscle mass. Severe dental caries was positively associated with higher alpha-diversity indices (richness, chao1, and ACE, all p < 0.05) and associated with beta-diversity based on Bray-Curtis distance (p = 0.006). The severe dental caries group and the sarcopenia group overlapped with 11 depleted and 13 enriched genera.

CONCLUSION

Dental caries was positively associated with low muscle strength and sarcopenia but not muscle mass, and this association was more pronounced in male individuals. Significant differences were observed in gut microbiota composition both in severe dental caries and sarcopenia, and there was an overlap of the genera features. Future longitudinal studies are needed to clarify causal relationships.

Association between Periodontal Disease and Comorbidities in Saudi's Eastern Province

The incidence of periodontal diseases is associated with multiple comorbidities that influence a patient's treatment planning. This study evaluates the relation between periodontal disease and multiple comorbidities reported in the Saudi population from the Eastern province. This study was conducted on 190 patients, who visited the periodontology clinics at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. Demographic data, smoking habits, past medical and dental histories, blood pressure, random blood glucose, and recent haemoglobin A1c were recorded. A comprehensive periodontal examination included the number of missing teeth, pocket depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), bleeding on probing (BOP), and mobility of all teeth except third molars. Radiographic bone loss was measured on standardized full-mouth periapical radiographs. Multivariable regression models were calculated aiming to see the association between different comorbidities and alveolar bone loss with confounders controlled. Out of 190 periodontitis patients, 56 (29.5%) were males and 134 (70.5%) were females. More than half of the patients (60%) were between 26 and 50 years, 30% of them had diabetes, and 18% were smokers. The risk of alveolar bone loss was higher in persons who had diabetes and those who had both diabetes and coronary heart disease than those who did not, although the association was not statistically significant (B = 1.26, 95%CI = −0.30, 2.82, and B = 2.86, 95%CI = −1.25, 6.96, respectively). The risk of alveolar bone loss was significantly higher among persons with diabetes and hypertension (B = 2.82 and 95%CI = 0.89, 4.75). Collectively, the risk of alveolar bone loss in periodontitis patients increases with diabetes in the presence of other comorbidities regardless of smoking or gender.