Association between periodontal condition and hypertension in a non-smoking population aged 30-49 years: results of the Health 2000 Survey in Finland.

AIM The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate whether periodontal condition is associated with hypertension and systolic blood pressure. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study population consisted of dentate, non-diabetic, non-smoking individuals aged 30-49 years (n = 1296) in the national Health 2000 Survey in Finland. The number of teeth with deepened (≥4 mm) and deep (≥6 mm) periodontal pockets and the number of sextants with gingival bleeding were used as explanatory variables. Hypertension and systolic blood pressure were used as outcome variables. RESULTS There was no consistent association between the number of teeth with deepened (≥4 mm) (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.95-1.01) or deep (≥6 mm) (OR 1.01, 95% CI 0.90-1.12) periodontal pockets and hypertension after adjusting for confounding factors. Nor was there any essential association between the number of bleeding sextants and hypertension. CONCLUSIONS Periodontal pocketing and gingival bleeding did not appear to be related to hypertension in non-diabetic, non-smoking individuals aged 30-49 years. Further studies using experimental study designs would be required to determine the role of infectious periodontal diseases in the development or progression of hypertension.