Loss of Teeth and Coronary Heart Disease

Purpose: This study examined the possible association of three dental factors with total mortality and death from coronary heart disease. Materials and Methods: Samples from two studies were combined, for a total of 2,613 individuals aged 25 to 79 years; a total of 353 deaths occurred, of which 82 were from coronary heart disease. The hazard ratio was calculated for total and coronary heart disease mortality by regression for the dental components; conventional risk factors were controlled for in a stepwise manner. Results: For total and coronary heart disease mortality, associations with both edentulousness and number of years of edentulism were statistically significant until smoking was added into the analysis; then, all significance was lost. When the effect of the oral parameters was studied in relation to total and coronary heart disease mortality, after adjusting for age and gender, there was a significant hazard ratio for total mortality, but only for edentulousness. When examined by stepwise regression of the coronary heart disease risk factors, all significance of risk from the three oral parameters was lost, smoking having the largest effect of all risk factors. Conclusion: Number of remaining teeth, edentulousness, and number of years of edentulism were not independent risk factors for total or coronary heart disease mortality, but they were surrogate markers for the risk from smoking.