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Background: Oral health is an integral component of general health and well-being of an individual. A chronic bacterial oral disease such as periodontitis has been considered as a separate risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, cerebrovascular diseases and peripheral arterial disease. The possible pathways linking oral infections to systemic diseases are metastatic infections, bacterial endotoxins, and systemic vascular injury. Objective: the aim of this present study was to evaluate an association between clinical parameters of periodontal disease and cardiovascular diseases in adult patients visiting Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Mekelle, Ethiopia. Method and Materials: a total 50 patients, 26 males and 24 females aged 40 to 79 years were selected for the study. Information concerning with various cardiovascular diseases like hypertension, coronary heart disease, heart attack and cardiac arrhythmia were collected. Clinical parameters of periodontal disease were recorded like gingival index(GI), probing pocket depth (PPD), bleeding on probing (BOP) and clinical attachment at six sites on each tooth (facial, lingual, distolingual, mesiolingual, distofacial and mesiofacial). The severity of gingivitis was also measured. Result: A significant association between gingival inflammation (RR =11.25), CAL (RR=14.67), BOP (RR=14.67), PPD (RR=11.25) and ACVD was found, whereas no association was found between periodontal disease indices and HA. Conclusion: Serological differences in subjects with periodontitis, some of which involve established risk factors for atherosclerosis, might provide insight into the reported epidemiological association between periodontitis and cardiovascular disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Exacerbated chronic periodontitis is part of the spectrum of periodontal diseases that has been described in association with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Few studies have been carried out in developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Objective: This study was aimed to evaluate the periodontal status of HIV seropositive patients and to find out if any correlation exists between the severity of periodontal disease and the CD4 cell count in HIV patients. Methods: This was a comparative study of the periodontal status of 64 HIV-positive subjects. They were grouped according to their CD4 T cell count as Group A- Subjects with CD4 cell count between 200-500µL and Group B- Subjects with CD4 cell count < 200 µL. Patients oral hygiene status were recorded using oral hygiene simplified index. Severity of periodontal disease in both the groups of HIV seropositive patients were clinically determined using probing pocket depth (PPD). Results: It was found that most of the patients in each group were having score "3" as their highest score. A statistically significant association was found between immune status as depicted by CD4 cell count and periodontal status as shown by highest PPD and CAL scores in the present study. Conclusions: The present study confirms the effect of immunosuppression on periodontal diseases in HIV infected patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]