Recent data published in Stroke support an association between stroke and decayed, missing, and filled teeth. The study analyzed the relationship between dental caries (tooth decay) and incident ischemic stroke, coronary heart disease (CHD), and death.
Researchers followed 6,351 participants from the dental cohort in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study to relate decayed, missing, and filled surfaces to the outcome.
Results found that people with one or more dental caries had an increased risk of stroke (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.40; 95% CI 1.10-1.79) and death (adjusted HR=1.13; 95% CI 1.01-1.26) but not CHD. These associations were significantly higher in African American participants compared to white participants.
Additionally, results revealed a significant association between decayed, missing, and filled teeth due to dental caries and stroke (adjusted HR=1.006; 95% CI 1.001-1.011) and death (adjusted HR=1.003; 95% CI 1.001-1.005). The researchers noted that regular dental care is associated with a 23% decrease in ischemic stroke rates and a significantly decreased risk of dental caries compared to episodic dental care.
“We think that this may be one of the first studies to evaluate the association between dental caries and incident ischemic stroke within a large U.S. community-based cohort,” the researchers noted. “Regular dental use is associated with lower levels of dental caries, suggesting it may be a means of lowering this risk for incident ischemic stroke.”
Source: Stroke, November 29, 2023.
