Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a common respiratory illness characterized by chronic bronchitis and emphysema, is especially prevalent in cigarette smokers. A statistically significant association between COPD and periodontal infections has been demonstrated in a number of epidemiologic studies in which loss of teeth, deep probing depths, and clinical attachment loss were used as surrogate markers for the presence of periodontal disease. No studies as of this writing show that the presence of periodontal infections influences the pathophysiology of COPD. However, it is possible that periodontal disease promotes the colonization of the mouth by respiratory pathogens that subsequently lead to chronic bronchitis. It is also possible that there is no causal link between periodontal infections and COPD because smoking is a risk factor shared by the two conditions, and the association might be coincidental.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease