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The following is a summary of “Oral health behavior associated with cardiometabolic outcomes: A nationally representative cross-sectional study in Portugal,” published in the January 2025 issue of Cardiology by Santos et al. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess the relationship between oral health behaviors (tooth brushing and oral health appointments) and the development of cardiometabolic diseases.  

They used data from the First National Health Examination Survey, analyzing participants aged 25–74 years with diagnoses of acute myocardial infarction (n = 4442), stroke (n = 4441), hypertension (n = 4450), and diabetes (n = 4327). A subsample of participants aged 40–69 years (n = 2555) was used to calculate cardiovascular risk. Poor oral health behavior was defined as brushing once a day or less and having the last oral health appointment 12 months or more ago. Poisson regression models assessed the relationship between poor oral health behavior and cardiometabolic outcomes.  

The results showed that 20.5% of 4,450 participants had poor oral health behavior,  and was significantly associated with diabetes (PR: 1.44 [95% CI: 1.10–1.98]) and high/very high cardiovascular risk (PR: 1.42 [95% CI: 1.25–1.62]). In sensitivity analysis, associations with diabetes and high/very high cardiovascular risk persisted for brushing behavior but not for oral health appointments at 12 months or more.  

Investigators concluded the individuals with poor oral health behaviors, particularly infrequent tooth brushing, showed higher prevalence of diabetes and high cardiovascular risk. 

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S016752732401324X