Pleiotropic effects of statins in treatment of generalized periodontitis in patients with coronary artery disease: clinical and experimental study (literature review)

Abstract

The high prevalence of generalized periodontitis in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) requires improving the existing ways of periodontal treatment of this category of cardiac patients and finding new ones. Statins are a group of lipid-lowering medications that are widely used for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases due to atherosclerotic vascular lesions. In addition to the cholesterol-lowering effect, statins have several pleiotropic effects, including anti-inflammatory, immune-stimulating, antibacterial, antioxidant, osteotropic etc. The analysis of scientific studies of native and foreign authors devoted to studying the influence of pleiotropic effects of statins on the condition of periodontal tissues revealed improvement of periodontal indicators, in particular, gum structure, reduction of the periodontal pockets depth, gum bleeding, and tooth mobility in patients on statin therapy. Experimental in vitro and in vivo studies show a decrease in proinflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β, TNF-a, etc.), which play a key role in the development of generalized periodontitis, as well as the acceleration of reparative processes in alveolar bone tissue when administering topical statins. Despite the prospects of using statins as the main or additional agent in the treatment of periodontal diseases, the question of dosage and method of local delivery of the medication for avoiding the undesirable side effects remains controversial and requires further research.