Relationship between chronic periodontal diseases and acute myocardial infarction

Currently chronic periodontitis is known as a bacterial infection; however, some systemic diseases can play a role in the initiation and progression of periodontal diseases. Recent studies have shown the effect of periodontal diseases on systemic conditions, including acute myocardial infarction. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible relationship between chronic periodontitis and acute myocardial infarction.
In this cross-sectional/analytical study, 60 subjects consisting of 20 patients with clinically confirmed AMI, 20 patients with coronary problem without AMI and 20 healthy subjects were evaluated (10 males and 10 females in each group). The subjects were 40‒65 years of age. All the subjects underwent a periodontal examination for attachment loss, gingival bleeding, tooth mobility grades, plaque index and furcal involvement. Data were analyzed with ANOVA using SPSS (α = 0.05).
Comparison of the 3 groups revealed significant differences in the mean clinical attachment los (p value = 0.002), bleeding on probing (p value = 0.023) and tooth loss (p value = 0.048). There were no significant differences in plaque index (p value = 0.24) and tooth mobility (p value = 0.91) between the study groups.
Based on the results of this study, periodontal disease might be considered a risk factor acute myocardial infarction.