Emphasizing the Correlation of Periodontal Diseases with Cardiovascular Disorders in the Educational Curriculum of Dental and Medical Students
Journal Title: Educational Research in Medical Sciences - Year 2014, Vol 3, Issue 2
Abstract
Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease that affects the supporting tissues of the teeth. It is caused by specific microorganisms and leads to progressive destruction of periodontal ligaments and alveolar bone along with pocket formation, attachment loss or both (1). Generally, periodontal diseases are chronic infections caused by special groups of bacteria, have long been considered a risk factor for atherosclerotic diseases and thrombolytic events (2). Heaton et al. (3) carried out a cohort study and reported increasing development of cardiovascular diseases in the people who were newly diagnosed with periodontitis. They also discussed that this correlation might be associated with the age of the individuals at the beginning of periodontitis. In a meta-analysis, Bahekar et al. (4) showed a possible relationship between periodontal and cardiovascular diseases, in which, both the prevalence and incidence of cardiovascular diseases remarkably increased in the patients with periodontal diseases. High levels of inflammatory mediators in the patients with periodontal disorders lead to cardiovascular diseases through thrombogenesis (4). On the other hand, Li et al. (5) in a systematic review study suggested that there is little quality evidence to support or reject whether periodontal treatment in the patients with chronic periodontitis can prevent the recurrence of cardiovascular diseases in the long term. Recent studies have shown that despite higher emphasis on the significance of the relationship between periodontal disorders and coronary events, the treatment of periodontal diseases has not drastically reduced the incidence of cardiovascular events. These findings suggest that further studies are required to investigate the effect of prevention of periodontal diseases on reduction of cardiovascular diseases. Hence, given the importance of the correlation between periodontal disorders and cardiovascular problems, the subjects related to the association between these two diseases with an emphasis on the prevention of these disease in the people at risk of cardiovascular diseases are recommended to be included in the educational curriculum of dental and medical students in order to reduce the possible incidence of coronary events. Specialized retraining courses also seem necessary to be designed and presented to cardiologists. Furthermore, cardiologists are suggested to refer the patients with cardiovascular risk factors to the dentists for further analysis.
Authors and Affiliations
Atefeh Ansarian , Maryam Khosravi
Keywords
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