Possible link between poor oral health and Covid-19, recent report reveals

A team of researchers from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India have recently developed a hypothesis stating a co-relation between the severity of the novel coronavirus with the occurrence of periodontitis.

The research has been published in The Tribune.

COVID-19 is associated with an exacerbated inflammatory response that can result in fatal outcomes. Systemic inflammation is also a main characteristic of periodontitis. According to the literature, association between periodontal disease and respiratory illness has been documented. However, the relation of the severity of gingival inflammation has not been studied with COVID-19.

Hence, the present research conducted by Dr Ashish Bhalla and colleagues from the Department of Internal Medicine, PGIMER aimed to clinically assess the association between periodontitis and Covid-19 related outcomes.

The study involved a total of eighty two covid patients either present at the communicable diseases ward or admitted to the hospital. Furthermore, patients suffering from Covid and periodontal disease were more likely to be admitted to a hospital as compared to those, who did not.

The authors observed that higher severity of periodontitis led to 7.45 odds of requiring assisted ventilation, 36.52 odds of hospital admission, 14.58 odds of being deceased and 4.42 odds of Covid-related pneumonia.

Hence, it was concluded that there is a significant association between periodontal disease and oxygen requirement in Covid patients.

They further inferred that dased on this finding, it will thus be justified to state that patients with periodontal disease seem to have a poorer chance of survival when compared to those without this ailment implying that poorer periodontal disease outcome measures might imply a worse Covid-related prognosis.

Therefore, an early diagnosis of the periodontal conditions of an individual can assist in identification of risk groups during the pandemic. Hence, good oral hygiene maintenance is of utmost importance even during the pandemic period and slight negligence can comprmise periodontal care.