COVID-19 Patients with Gum Disease more likely to have Severe Complications
Here’s another reason to keep up the brushing and flossing during the pandemic, researchers found those with gum disease who contracted COVID-19 were at least three times more likely to have severe complications from the virus.
A team of international researchers published their findings in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology this month.
The study looked at more than 500 people who tested positive for COVID-19 in Qatar between February and July last year. Of those, about 45% had gum disease.
They found those who had gum disease were 3.5 times more likely to be admitted to the ICU, 4.5 times more likely to need a ventilator, and almost 9 times more likely to die from the virus, when compared to those COVID-19 patients who didn’t have gum disease.
Researchers point out that COVID-19 is associated with “exacerbated inflammatory response” in the body, and that systemic inflammation is also a characteristic of periodontitis, also known as gum disease.
Periodontitis is a gum infection that damages the soft tissue, it can lead to the teeth loosening or falling out.
