The relationship between periodontal disease and systemic disease: A retrospective study in rural and regional NSW

Objective: To date, there appears to be little, if any, published evidence of linking periodontal disease and systemic diseases in Australia. Hence, the main aim of this pilot study was to determine whether systemic health is related to periodontal disease in patients living in rural and regional NSW. The null hypothesis to be tested was whether patients with good periodontal health have fewer systemic diseases.Method: 2309 patients who presented to the Charles Sturt University Dental and Oral Health Clinics from 2015 to 2016 were randomly selected to be included in this study. We have retrospectively collected patient’s demographic data including medical and drug histories. Clinical data was available only periodontal probing depth (6 point charting for each teeth). Based on PPD (Eke et al, 2012), periodontal disease has been classified as healthy (PPD=<3mm)/mild (PPD=4-5mm)/Moderate (PPD=6-7 mm)/Severe (PPD=>7mm). Data analysed using SPSS (24.0). Results: In the sample of 2309 patients, the study revealed that being male (p = 5.127) aged 41-60 (p = 2.218), were more susceptible to periodontal disease. Patients taking prescribed medications (p = 0.009), patients with hypertension (p = 0.050), mood disorders (p = 0.045), musculoskeletal disorders (p < 0.001) and patients who smoked (p < 0.001) were found to have a significant relationship with periodontal disease (p < 0.05). Conclusion: There is a link found between hypertension, prescribed medications, mood disorders musculoskeletal disorders, smoking and periodontal disease. Understanding how the two interact will allow for improved patients periodontal health and systemic outcomes. Therefore larger and more randomized populations and better-controlled clinical trials will be required to substantiate the correlation of periodontal disease to these systemic conditions.