Periodontitis: A risk factor to respiratory diseases

Periodontitis is a destructive inflammatory disease of the supporting tissues of the teevth and is caused by specific microorganisms or group of specific microorganisms resulting in progressive destruction of periodontal ligament and alveolar bone with periodontal pocket formation, gingival recession or both. The host responds to the periodontal infections with an array of events involving both innate and adaptive immunity. Periodontitis has been proposed as having an etiological or modulating role in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory disease and adverse pregnancy outcome and several mechanisms have been proposed to explain or support such theories.

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2946730/