In the past on this site links between periodontal disease and cardiovascular disease have been mentioned, see for example the posts Additional link between cardiovascular and periodontal disease and Periodontal Disease and Cardiovascular Risk. Periodontal disease is also known as gum disease. Recently, a study appearing in the Journal of the American Dental Association titled “Association between periodontal care and hospitalization with acute myocardial infarction” written by Romesh P. Nalliah and et. al. (April 19, 2022) has shown that those with periodontal disease are at increased risk of ending up in the hospital due to a heart attack.
In the study researchers explored periodontal care and heart attack-related hospitalizations and aftercare by analyzing Iinsurance claims data from MarketScan Research Databases, which includes information from hundreds of millions of patients in the U.S. Patients were included if they had been hospitalized in 2017 for a heart attack and also had claims data available in 2016 and 2018. The researchers grouped patients into four types based on Code on Dental Procedures and Nomenclature (CDT) claims codes prior to their hospitalization: Controlled periodontal care (CDT D4910), Active periodontal care (CDT D4341, D4342, D4346, or D4355), Regular care (CDT D0120 or D1110), and no care. Any patient that also had a heart attack in 2016 was not included in the study. Patients who did not have dental and medical insurance from 206 to 2018 were also excluded.
The authors found that of the 2,370 patients in the study, 47% had regular oral healthcare before they were hospitalized for a heart attack, 7% had received active periodontal care, and 10% had received controlled periodontal care. Further, more than a one-third of all patients did not have oral healthcare before being hospitalized for a heart attack. Patients who were in the controlled periodontal care group had more postacute care visits for the thirty days after hospitalization. These patients also had shorter hospital stays than patients in the no dental care group. When combining the controlled and active periodontal care groups it was found that those who had periodontal care before a heart attack were more likely to have postacute care visits.
The researchers feel that an increased number of visits for patients after they were hospitalized with periodontal disease was a postive development. The authors pointed out a few limitations of the study including deaths were not disclosed, not all states are included in the insurance database they used, and not all insurance plans were used in the insurance database they used. Even so the authors feel that their study showed that those who receive periodontal care when they have periodontal disease have more positive outcomes ater they are hospitalized for a heart attack than those patients who did not receive such care. The authors feel that partnerships between dentists and primary care physicians and cardiologists could be a postive development going forward to improve care. The authors state
“This suggests that there is a benefit to incorporating oral health care and medical care to improve [acute myocardial infarction] AMI outcomes.”
The authors feel that early intervention in those with periodontal disease could help to ensure stable periodontal health in those with a risk acute myocardial infarction (also known as a heart attack) and save hospital rescources.