Methods: We analyzed the data of 815 male adults (mean age 38.1±7.0 years) who underwent periodic medical and dental examinations. From each subject blood samples were drawn following a 14-hour fast and analyzed. A trained medical technician measured height and weight, and a physician performed a physical examination. Thereafter, a standard dental check-up was took place, included two standardized posterior bitewing radiographs. The distance between the cemento-enamel-junction to the alveolar bone crest was measured at inter-proximal sites.
Results: Age was found to be in a positive association to alveolar bone loss (p<0.0001). Individuals with fasting glucose level ≥100mg/dL had higher prevalence of severe and moderate bone loss (p=0.0060). A positive association was found between alveolar bone loss and BMI (p=0.0208), fasting serum triglycerides level of ≥200mg/dL, cholesterol level ≥ 200, and high LDL-cholesterol level (p<0.0003).
Conclusions: According the findings in the studied non-diabetic adult population, periodontal disease was associated to impaired glucose level (≥100mg/dL) and thus might serve as a predictor for future diabetes mellitus, or it plays a possible role in the glucose imbalance and the diabetes mellitus development. Moreover, periodontal bone loss was related to BMI, serum triglycerides and cholesterol levels. These findings might implicate that there is a relation between early periodontal bone loss and the development of metabolic syndrome. Further long term longitudinal studies are warranted.