Oral bacteria linked to oral bone loss

BUFFALO, N.Y. (UPI) -- A University at Buffalo study found women infected with four bacteria that cause periodontal disease were more likely to have more severe oral bone loss.

Two widely recognized periodontal pathogens -- P. gingivalis and T. forsythensis -- were found to infect 15 percent and 38 percent of the women, respectively. Two additional oral bacteria suspected to be pathogenic, P. intermedia and C. rectus, were found in 43 percent and 17 percent of women, according to senior author Jean Wactawski-Wende.

The study involved 1,256 postmenopausal women who were part of a larger population-based investigation of risk factors for osteoporosis and oral bone loss in postmenopausal women.

"This is one of the first studies in community-dwelling postmenopausal women that assessed bacteria presence and associated it with oral bone loss, while controlling for other factors, such as age, smoking status and income," Wactawski-Wende said in a statement.

The findings appear in the Journal of Periodontology.