Nutrition and periodontal disease

Abstract

The identification of inflammatory periodontal disease and education in local and systemic risk factors and their management forms the foundation of the treatment of this disease. Nutrition is potentially a modifiable risk factor that could drive or abrogate the underlying oxidative stress in periodontitis. As research in this area is still in its infancy, clinical guidance on the delivery of dietary advice for susceptible patients is scarce. This paper will explain the possible mechanisms linking nutrition and periodontal disease, as well as the guidelines currently available to the dental profession. CPD/CLINICAL RELEVANCE: With a growing evidence base, an appreciation of the links between nutrition and inflammatory periodontal disease can help guide clinicians in educating patients on this potentially important modifiable risk factor.

Role of Lipids in the Onset, Progression and Treatment of Periodontal Disease. A Systematic Review of Studies in Humans

“…Studies evaluating the possible effects of total amount of fat were only represented by a single study in Japanese adults [40]. It has been proposed that a high fat intake might lead to enhanced oxidative stress because of an overloading of the Krebs cycle, among other reasons [38,39]. Oxidative stress has been associated with periodontal disease exerting its effects by means of direct damage to cells.…”

“…Oxidative stress has been associated with periodontal disease exerting its effects by means of direct damage to cells. It has been related through the activation of redox-sensitive transcription factors, leading to the production of pro-inflammatory molecules (Figure 2) which enhance and propagate the inflammatory response, elevating the local levels of oxidative stress [38,39]. Unexpectedly, results from the study mentioned suggested a positive association between periodontal health and fat intake [40].…”

“…In relation to saturated fat, the concern is that an excess metabolically leads to an increased production of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. This, when oxidized, forms oxidized LDL, which binds to toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) on neutrophils, again activating downstream pro-inflammatory cascades [38], among other things.…”

“…There are some reviews which provide information about the association between periodontitis and diet components [3,24,25,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39] although many of them were restricted to certain population groups [3], study types [3,24,34], and/or did not include lipids [3,24,26,35]. However, few attempts of systematic reviews have been carried out [1,3,24,34].…”

Impact of chronic stress on periodontal health

“…The psychological state of an individual affects the choice, consistency, and quantity of food they consume [35,36]. This may include an increase in the consumption of carbohydraterich foods and soft foods, which do not require as much chewing.…”