Association between toothbrushing and risk factors for cardiovascular disease: a large-scale, cross-sectional Japanese study

Abstract

ObjectivesTo clarify the association between toothbrushing and risk factors for cardiovascular disease—namely, hypertension (HT), diabetes mellitus (DM), dyslipidaemia (DL), hyperuricaemia (HUA) and chronic kidney disease (CKD).DesignA large-scale, single-centre, cross-sectional study.SettingSt Luke's International Hospital, Center for Preventive Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, between January 2004 and June 2010.ParticipantsThis study examined the toothbrushing practices of 85 866 individuals according to the 3-category frequency criterion: ‘after every meal’, ‘at least once a day’ and ‘less than once a day’. The ORs by frequency were calculated for the prevalences of HT, DM, DL, HUA and CKD according to binominal logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, gender, body mass index and lifestyle habits—smoking, drinking, walk time and sleep time.ResultsThe prevalences of the risk factors were as follows: HT (‘after every meal’: 13.3%, ‘at least once a day’: 17.9% and ‘less than once a day’: 31.0%), DM (3.1%, 5.3% and 17.4%, respectively), DL (29.0%, 42.1% and 60.3%, respectively), HUA (8.6%, 17.5% and 27.2%, respectively) and CKD (3.8%, 3.1% and 8.3%, respectively). The prevalences were significantly higher in the ‘less than once a day’ group than in the ‘after every meal’ group for DM (OR=2.03; 95% CI 1.29 to 3.21) and DL (OR=1.50; 95% CI 1.06 to 2.14), but not for HT, HUA and CKD.ConclusionsEven taking into account lifestyle habits, a lower frequency of toothbrushing was associated with high prevalences of DM and DL. Toothbrushing practices may be beneficial for oral health improvement and also for prevention of certain systemic diseases.

Meta‐analysis on the association between the frequency of tooth brushing and diabetes mellitus risk

“…After retrieving full‐text of the remaining 179 articles, 32 articles were excluded because of insufficient data to calculate the risk estimates, and 127 were excluded as tooth brushing was not a risk factor. Eventually, we included 20 studies in this meta‐analysis.…”

“…Tooth brushing is considered as a fundamental self‐care behaviour for the maintenance of oral health. Some studies have suggested that tooth brushing was associated with many health problems, including gingivitis, dental caries, tooth decay, periodontal disease, head and neck cancer, dyslipidemia, and endothelial dysfunction . …”

“Metabolically Healthy” Obesity and Hyperuricemia Increase Risk for Hypertension and Diabetes: 5‐year Japanese Cohort Study

“…This study population was considered as an ‘apparently healthy population’ since they came to the center by themselves to have annual regular health checkup without specific complaints, and also provided a general history of comorbidities. We have previously published studies using this database (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23). The study subjects were similar to our previous studies, but this study design, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and outcomes were different from our previous studies.…”

Relationship of toothbrushing to metabolic syndrome in middle‐aged adults

“…Toothbrushing is the most commonly used oral hygiene procedure. Recent studies reported that a low frequency of toothbrushing was associated with a high level of risk for cardiovascular disease (de Oliveira, Watt, & Hamer, ) and diabetes mellitus (Kuwabara et al., ). Thus, toothbrushing has a potential link to MetS, which is a precursor of cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus.…”

“…Recent studies reported that a low frequency of toothbrushing was associated with a high level of risk for cardiovascular disease (de Oliveira, Watt, & Hamer, 2010) and diabetes mellitus (Kuwabara et al, 2016).…”