Relationship of Emotional Well-being to Periodontal Disease Among Postmenopausal Women

Objectives: Oral health can be affected by estrogen deficiency. Although after menopause, women become more susceptible to bone loss, the relationship between estrogen deficiency and periodontitis remains elusive. The present study aimed to assess the association between periodontal clinical parameters and physiological or psychological symptoms in regularly menstruating women (RMW) and postmenopausal women (PMW).
Methods: A total of 115 women (PMW, n=56, mean age: 54.14 ± 5.083, RHW, n=59, mean age: 41,17 ± 4,453) received a comprehensive medical assessment and a full-mouth periodontal evaluation. All participants completed the Women's Health Questionnaire (WHQ) to measure subjective reports of emotional and physical well-being.The data were analyzed using SPSS and the p-value was set to 0.05.
Results: The PMW group displayed higher BMI (27,55 ± 5,41 vs 25,61 ± 4,22, p< 0.05) and frequency of systemic disease (58,9% vs 39%, p< 0.05) than the RHW. The systemic diseases included cardiac (60,9% vs 13,9%) and thyroid (56,5% vs 19,4%) problems. Tooth loss was higher in the PMW (3,88 ± 2,51 vs 2,07± 2,44p<0.05). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of periodontitis between the two (41% vs 32,3%, p>0.05). Although frequency of toothbrushing (2 times/day: 58,9% for PMW and 52,5 for RMW) did not differ among the groups, in the PMW group, the patients with periodontitis had irregular toothbrushing (19% vs 0% of p<0.05). The WHQ analysis indicated that the PMW had higher somatic and vasomotor symptoms than the RHW (p<0.05, 0,46 ± 0,25 vs 0,31± 0,23; 0,45± 0,45 vs 0,09± 0,21). In the RMW group, patients with periodontitis revealed higher depressed mood and sleep problems scores (p<0.05).
Conclusions: Presence of periodontitis is associated with the emotional and physical well-being of women and reinforcement of oral hygiene is needed after menopause to reduce the risk for systemic diseases and early tooth loss.