Evidence of Connections Between Periodontitis and Ischemic Cardiac Disease - an Updated Systematic Review.

The association between chronic periodontitis and cardiovascular disease is still controversial, despite the plethora of research on this topic. The objective of this systematic review is to update the level of evidence on connection between periodontal and cardiovascular disease. The review question is: could a link between periodontal disease and ischemic cardiac disease be established? A PubMed, Science Direct and Scopus systematic search was performed, which was restricted only to articles published in English or French during the last five years. This study followed PRISMA statement guidelines. A significant relationship between the periodontal and cardiovascular pathology in 17 selected studies was observed, although there was a huge methodological heterogeneity and no randomized study was found. It can be concluded that there is a connection between periodontal and cardiovascular disease, but the link mechanism is still not strongly proved. The scientific evidence level of the future research must be improved.