Oral health and lung function

What is it about?

A number of papers have demonstrated that periodontal disease is associated with COPD in adults. There is an ongoing discussion, whether this association is mainly driven by smoking as a common cause, or based on a transfer of oral pathogens into the lung, or mediated via systemic inflammation, or due to a combination of these factors. All previous studies have been performed in adults and are limited in addressing these issues, particularly smoking. Using a large cross-sectional sample of subjects of age 15 years we found a statistically robust detrimental impact of symptoms of gingivitis on lung function. Sensitivity analyses showed that this association was independent of anti-inflammatory treatment, or the diagnosis of asthma, or smoking that was present in some subjects. We also analysed the level of hs-CRP and FeNO as markers of inflammation that could be involved in this association but no correlations were found.

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Why is it important?

These findings are novel and challenging. For the first time they demonstrate an association between markers of oral health and lung function in adolescents, i.e. in a population not significantly affected by smoking or other long-term exposures as potential confounding factors. This result also provokes the question whether sanitation of the oral cavity in young age might have a positive effect on lung function either in young or in later age.

Perspectives