Relationship Between Posterior Occlusal Support and Atherosclerosis Among 70-years Adults

Objectives: Whereas most of studies investigating relationship between oral health and atherosclerosis have focused on periodontitis, very few of them were examined about occlusal status which can be considered to influence masticatory function, or dietary habit. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the relationship between reduction of posterior occlusal support and atherosclerosis independent of periodontal disease.
Methods: The study population included 462 community-dwelling dentate persons (Male: 217, Female: 245) aged 69–71 years recruited from the local residential registration. The participants were divided by number of occlusal support zone into three groups: well-supported (4 occlusal support zones), moderately-collapsed (3 or 2 zones) and severely-collapsed (1 or 0 zone). Periodontal status were categorized, according to the deepest periodontal pocket depths (PPD) of each participants, as healthy (PPD≦3mm), moderate (PPD=4–5mm) and severe (PPD≧6mm). Atherosclerosis was defined as carotid intima-media thickness ≧1.10 mm by ultrasonography. To investigate the independent association of occlusal support with atherosclerosis, chi-squared test and multivariable logistic regression analysis were performed. A two-sided p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: Each of prevalence rates of atherosclerosis was 39.5% (105/266) for well-supported group, 41.8% (33/79) for moderately-collapsed group and 58.1% (68/117) for severely-collapsed group respectively (chi-square test, p=0.003). As for periodontal status, each of prevalence rates of atherosclerosis was 29.6% (21/71) for healthy group, 42.9% (78/182) for moderate group and 51.2% (107/209) for severe group (chi-square test, p=0.006). Multivariable logistic regression analysis adjusting for other several conventional risk factors showed that occlusal support were significantly associated with atherosclerosis (odds ratio (OR) for severely-collapsed to well-supported groups:1.98, 95% CI: 1.10-3.55), independent of periodontal status (OR for severe group to healthy group: 2.21, 95% CI: 1.05-4.68).
Conclusions: This study showed a relationship between the reduction of posterior occlusal support and atherosclerosis independent of periodontal disease.