Moderate to severe periodontal attachment loss may be associated with COPD.
ANALYSIS
Overall, this study indicated that subjects with a history of COPD had more periodontal attachment
loss than did subjects without a history of COPD. The authors suggest a causal association
and envision a number of mechanisms through which periodontitis may cause COPD, including
aspiration of respiratory pathogens and release of cytokines by the periodontal tissues. Due to the
cross-sectional nature of the data, the temporal aspect of a potential causal link could not be assessed. The authors emphasize that poor oral health alone is not responsible for COPD. Periodontal disease has been associated with several systemic diseases. COPD is now added to
the list of diseases that periodontitis has been associated with. Consistently, the magnitudes of the
associations that have been identified are small. Whether these associations are causal or due to
residual confounding remains to be established.
.
