Effect of dental screening on cardiovascular risk: A nationwide cohort study

Aim: To evaluate the effect of dental screening on the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) using data from a nationwide population-based cohort.

Materials and methods: This retrospective cohort study extracted data of 478,245 individuals aged 40-79 years who participated in a health screening programme during 2002-2003 from the National Health Insurance Service-National Health Screening Cohort. Based on screening experience, participants were classified into the non-screening, general screening only, and dental screening groups. Using Cox proportional hazard models, hazard ratios (HRs) were determined for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) during each group's 11-year follow-up period.

Results: The risk of MACE in the dental screening group was 10% lower than that in the non-screening group (adjusted HR, 0.90; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.87-0.93; p < .001) and 9% lower than that in the general screening only group (adjusted HR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.89-0.94; p < .001).

Conclusions: Dental screening was associated with a lower MACE risk; however, decreases in CVD-related healthcare utilization and costs were not clinically significant. The association could be attributed to healthy habits of participants in the dental screening group; nevertheless, it is conceivable that the improvement of oral health through dental screening influenced CVD prevention.