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Lesions of Endodontic Origin and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease

¹ Departments of Dental Ecology,
² Periodontology, School of Dentistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA;
³ Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA;
⁴ Private Practice of Endodontics, Meriden, CT, USA; and
⁵ VA Boston Healthcare System and Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

^* corresponding author, dan_caplan{at}dentistry.unc.edu

A paucity of epidemiologic research exists regarding systemic health consequences of endodontic disease. This study evaluated whether incident radiographically evident lesions of endodontic origin were related to development of coronary heart disease (CHD) among 708 male participants in the VA Dental Longitudinal Study. At baseline and every three years for up to 32 years, participants (who were not VA patients) received complete medical and dental examinations, including full-mouth radiographs. Cox regression models estimated the relationship between incident lesions of endodontic origin and time to CHD diagnosis. Among those 40 years old, incident lesions of endodontic origin were significantly associated with time to CHD diagnosis (p < 0.05), after adjustment for covariates of interest, with hazard ratios decreasing as age increased. Among those > 40 years old, no statistically significant association was observed. These findings are consistent with research that suggests relationships between chronic periodontal inflammation and the development of CHD, especially among younger men.

KEY WORDS: apical periodontitis • coronary heart disease • epidemiology • inflammation • longitudinal study