Radiographic quantification of chronic dental infection and its relationship to the atherosclerotic process in the carotid arteries.

Background: Atherosclerosis may be initiated/accelerated by chronic dental infection (CDI). Noninvasively visualizing the carotid arteries is an accepted surrogate marker for determining coronary artery atherosclerosis (CAA). We hypothesized that 36 individuals with radiographic carotid atheromas would have more radiographic CDI than risk-matched individuals without atheromas.

Methods: We determined the arithmetic sum of individuals' periapical and furcal lesions, pericoronitis sites, carious roots, teeth with pulpal caries, and vertical bony defects (>4 mm).

Results: Individuals with atheromas had a significantly (P < .01) greater mean score of 15.5 +/- 10.4 compared with control subjects (7.9 +/- 8.1). Similarly significant (P < .05) was the difference in the mean numbers of mesial and distal vertical bony defects in the atheroma group (4.1 +/- 3.9 and 4.8 +/- 3.8, respectively) compared with control subjects (1.6 +/- 2.4 and 1.8 +/- 2.7, respectively).

Conclusions: Individuals with atheromas on their radiographs (and high probability of CAA) had significantly greater amounts of CDI than individuals without atheromas.