Could Periodontitis Affect Antibiotics?

For those who have fortunately never had it, periodontitis is an infection of the gums that damages soft tissue, eventually destroying the bone supporting the teeth. This condition, which is often caused by plaque forming and hardening on the teeth or continuing gum inflammation, can ultimately lead to teeth loosening or to tooth loss.

Other symptoms can include purplish or reddish gums, puffy or swollen gums, receded gums, gums tender to touch, easily bleeding gums, new spaces forming between teeth, pus between gums and teeth, bad breath, painful chewing, and changes to the way a person’s teeth come together when he or she bites down. Periodontitis can also be chronic, aggressive, or necrotizing (dead gum tissue).

In addition to these crucial facts about periodontitis, which all dental patients should know, there have been a few recent developments regarding this condition that could affect a wide array of people. According to researchers who were recently published in Atherosclerosis , an online journal, periodontitis could influence the efficiency of antibiotics that are used for preventing recurring cardiovascular events.

This team of researchers, headed by Dr. Susanna Paju of the Dentistry Institute of Finland’s University of Helsinki, studied 141 individuals who had been hospitalized due to serious cardiovascular events, such as unstable angina pectoris or myocardial infarction. Using a double-blind experiment, the researchers recorded the rate of recurrence for additional cardiovascular events during a year of inspection once the patients had received either a placebo or a 90-day treatment of clarithromycin, which is an antibiotic for treating bacterial infections.

The researching team utilized X-rays in order to gauge the state of the subjects' teeth and other teeth-supporting tissues while also assessing if two bacteria often associated with periodontitis were present in the subjects' saliva. The team discovered it was more likely that patients who showed no sign of periodontal disease would avoid having more cardiovascular events. Of these subjects, 79 percent didn’t suffer more cardiovascular events compared with the 74 percent of toothless subjects and the 66 percent of subjects with periodontitis.

Any differences were far clearer in subjects who were under the age of 65. Of the patients who did not have periodontitis, 90 percent didn’t experience more cardiovascular events compared with the 64 percent of periodontitis subjects and the 50 percent of toothless subjects. In the end, Paju’s team concluded that individuals with periodontitis who were also under the age of 65 could have a five-time increased risk of critical, recurring cardiovascular events compared to healthier patients.

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