title: Association between periodontal disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a reality or just a dogma?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In the past few years, the association between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and periodontal disease has been promulgated. The present study is aimed at determining the association between these two diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  This observational study includes 501 individuals consisting of 102 patients (case group) having COPD and 399 individuals as controls. Individuals in the case group were well-functioning and ambulatory patients having COPD as determined by their history and their values of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity. Periodontal status was evaluated by the following five indices: 1) plaque index; 2) oral hygiene index (OHI); 3) gingival index (GI); 4) probing depth (PD); and 5) clinical attachment level (CAL). Lung function test was performed by all the patients (case group), who were then graded into mild, moderate, severe, and very severe.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Preliminary analysis was performed to identify the covariates in this study. Individuals in the case group had significantly higher CAL, PD, and OHI (P <0.0001) compared with the control group after adjusting for covariates. A significant negative correlation was observed between FEV1 values and CAL, PD, and GI, thus indicating a trend in which severity of lung obstruction increased as these periodontal indices worsened.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the present study cannot ascertain causal association, it provides substantial evidence that poor periodontal health is associated with obstructive lung disease.
authors: Department of Periodontics, RKDF Dental College and Research Centre, Bhopal, India.
authors: Kalpak Prafulla
authors: KP
authors: Peter
authors: Bhumika Ramchandra
authors: BR
authors: Mute
authors: Satish Shripad
authors: SS
authors: Doiphode
authors: Suhas Jagannath
authors: SJ
authors: Bardapurkar
authors: Mangala Sonawani
authors: MS
authors: Borkar
authors: Dhananjay Vasant
authors: DV
authors: Raje
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001991:Bronchitis / Q000150:complications; D003774:Dental Plaque Index; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009911:Oral Hygiene Index; D017622:Periodontal Attachment Loss / Q000145:classification; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D010512:Periodontal Index; D010514:Periodontal Pocket / Q000145:classification; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000145:classification / Q000150:complications*; D011656:Pulmonary Emphysema / Q000150:complications; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking; D013147:Spirometry / Q000379:methods; D014030:Tobacco, Smokeless; D014797:Vital Capacity / Q000502:physiology