Treatment of Periodontitis and Endothelial Function

BACKGROUND: Systemic inflammation may impair vascular function, and epidemiologic data suggest a possible link between periodontitis and cardiovascular disease. METHODS: We randomly assigned 120 patients with severe periodontitis to community-based periodontal care (59 patients) or intensive periodontal treatment (61). Endothelial function, as assessed by measurement of the diameter of the brachial artery during flow (flow-mediated dilatation), and inflammatory biomarkers and markers of coagulation and endothelial activation were evaluated before treatment and 1, 7, 30, 60, and 180 days after treatment. RESULTS: Twenty-four hours after treatment, flow-mediated dilatation was significantly lower in the intensive-treatment group than in the control-treatment group (absolute difference, 1.4%; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.5 to 2.3; P=0.002), and levels of C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and the endothelial-activation markers soluble E-selectin and von Willebrand factor were significantly higher (P<0.05 for all comparisons). However, flow-mediated dilatation was greater and the plasma levels of soluble E-selectin were lower in the intensive-treatment group than in the control-treatment group 60 days after therapy (absolute difference in flow-mediated dilatation, 0.9%; 95% CI, 0.1 to 1.7; P=0.02) and 180 days after therapy (difference, 2.0%; 95% CI, 1.2 to 2.8; P<0.001). The degree of improvement was associated with improvement in measures of periodontal disease (r=0.29 by Spearman rank correlation, P=0.003). There were no serious adverse effects in either of the two groups, and no cardiovascular events occurred. CONCLUSIONS: Intensive periodontal treatment resulted in acute, short-term systemic inflammation and endothelial dysfunction. However, 6 months after therapy, the benefits in oral health were associated with improvement in endothelial function.