Better oral hygiene is associated with lower risk of stroke

Abstract

Background Periodontal disease or poor oral hygiene may lead to local infection, inflammation, and systemic inflammatory reactions, which are important mediators of development of stroke. We aimed to investigate the association of oral hygiene with risk of stroke in a nationwide population‐based cohort. Methods From Korean National Health Insurance System‐Health Screening Cohort, 206,602 participants without missing data regarding demographic information, medical history, or blood/urine examination results were included. The presence of periodontal disease and indicators of oral hygiene, such as number of tooth brushings, dental visit history, dental scaling, and number of teeth loss and dental caries were evaluated. Occurrence of stroke including cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, and subarachnoid hemorrhage was defined as newly registration of International Classification of Diseases‐10 codes from I60 to I64 accompanying brain CT and/or MR examination at that time of diagnosis. Results The 7337 (3.6%) cases of stroke including 5795 (79.0%) cases of cerebral infarction, 1568 (21.4%) cases of cerebral hemorrhage, and 621 (8.5%) cases of subarachnoid hemorrhage occurred during a median 10.4 years follow‐up. In multivariable analysis, frequent tooth brushing (≥3 times per day) was negatively associated with risk of stroke occurrence (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.78, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.73–0.84). Number of dental caries (≥4) was positively related to stroke occurrence (HR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.13–1.44). Conclusions Regular oral hygiene behavior was negatively, and infrequent oral hygiene care was positively associated with risk of occurrence for stroke, respectively. Brushing one's teeth three or more times daily may be associated with lower risk of stroke.

Oral health and longitudinal changes in fasting glucose levels: A nationwide cohort study

“…The presence of hypertension was determined if a subscriber had health claims for prescription of antihypertensive medications with diagnostic codes of hypertension (I10–15), systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg, or reported having a hypertension in the survey. The presence of CKD was evaluated based on the diagnostic codes (N18, N18.1–18.5, N18.9) or an estimated glomerular filtration rate of <60 mL/min/1.73 m 2 [ 16 ].…”

“…Our findings added evidence for the negative relationship between tooth brushing and longitudinal glucose levels based on the population-based health examination data. There is increasing evidence to suggest that frequent tooth brushing is an effective intervention in reducing both periodontal inflammation and the risk of heart failure, stroke, gastrointestinal cancer, and new-onset diabetes [15][16][17][18][41][42][43].…”

Association between Findings in Oral Health Screening and Body Mass Index: A Nation-Wide Longitudinal Study

“…Periodontitis is defined as an inflammatory disease of the supporting tissues of teeth caused by specific microorganisms or groups of specific microorganisms, resulting in progressive destruction of the periodontal ligament and alveolar bone with periodontal pocket formation, gingival recession, or both [ 5 ]. Emerging evidence suggests that poor oral health and periodontitis can influence the initiation and/or progression of various diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, and degenerative diseases [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. On the other hand, behaviors improving oral health may reduce the risk of medical illnesses [ 10 , 11 ].…”

Awareness and Practice of Oral Health Measures in Medina, Saudi Arabia: An Observational Study

“…Otitis media/externa and asthma can also be closely correlated to periodontal diseases [5]. Additionally, serious health conditions such as stroke [6] and cancer risk [7] can be related significantly to poor oral hygiene.…”