Mouth-Heart Connection: A Systematic Review on the Impact of Periodontal Disease on Cardiovascular Health

Periodontal diseases (PDs) and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are highly prevalent global diseases with increasing percentages of morbidity and mortality. Both PD and CVDs independently have multifactorial causation, and emerging evidence shows an association between PD and CVDs. Periodontal diseases like gingivitis and periodontitis are chronic inflammatory conditions that eventually cause systemic inflammation, leading to many systemic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular diseases, and others. In this study, we followed a systematic review approach to give an overview of the current evidence on the association between PD and CVDs. We used a relevant search strategy to retrieve articles from databases such as PubMed and Google Scholar from 2013 to July 2023. Upon applying filters and screening through titles and abstracts, we could narrow down articles to 21. On full-text screening, we selected 10 articles for in-depth analysis. This study showed a significant correlation between PD and CVDs. Poor oral hygiene, infection, and inflammation in the oral cavity lead to systemic inflammation, causing endothelial dysfunction. There are controversial views about PD acting as an independent risk factor for CVD development, as there are other risk factors such as age, gender, smoking, etc. acting as confounding factors while establishing the link between PD and CVDs. Knowledge about oral health, maintaining good oral hygiene, and proper treatment for PD could reduce the incidence of CVDs. Further research is needed to prove that PD is an independent risk factor for CVDs.