Dental root tip infection ups heart attack risk

A new research suggests that untreated infection of the tip of root tip which is common and often without any symptoms, may increase the risk of heart disease.

‘Acute coronary syndrome is 2.7 times more common among patients with untreated teeth in need of root canal treatment than among patients without this issue,’ said John Liljestrand of the University of Helsinki.

Dental root tip infection, or apical periodontitis, is a bodily defence reaction against microbial infection in the dental pulp.

Dental caries is the most common cause of dental root tip infection.

The findings, published in the Journal of Dental Research involved 508 Finnish patients with a mean age of 62 years who were experiencing heart symptoms at the time of the study.

The coronary arteries were examined by means of angiography, and 36% of them were found to be suffering from stable coronary artery disease, 33% were undergoing acute coronary syndrome, and 31% did not suffer from coronary artery disease to a significant degree.

Their teeth were examined using panoramic tomography of the teeth and jaws, and as many as 58 % were found to be suffering from one or more inflammatory lesions.

The findings suggest that root canal treatment of an infected tooth may reduce the risk of heart disease.