Two new studies published this month have again highlighted the possible connection between systemic and oral health. A new study published in the July 2006 issue of the Journal of Clinical Periodontology looked at a possible connection between depression and the development of periodontal disease. The results were consistent with an emerging literature showing that life stress, anxiety, depression, pathological grief, and poor coping behaviour may dysregulate regulatory mechanisms within the brain involved in immune regulation, and thereby alter immune responses and influence the susceptibility/resistance to inflammatory disorders.

A further study published in Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology looked at the relationship between stress, coping, affective dispositions and periodontal attachment loss. The researchers concluded that chronic job and financial strains, depression, inadequate coping, and maladaptive trait dispositions are significant risk indicators for periodontal attachment loss.

 Breivik T, Gundersen Y, Myhrer T et al: Enhanced susceptibility to periodontitis in an animal model of depression: reversed by chronic treatment with the anti-depressant tianeptine . J Clin Perio 2006 33(7): 469

 Sam K. S. Ng, W. Keung Leung: A community study on the relationship between stress, coping, affective dispositions and periodontal attachment loss. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology; 2006 :34 (4) 252 .

Posted July 06