Osteoporosis and periodontitis in postmenopausal women: A systematic review

This systematic review was done to assess the strength of association between osteoporosis and chronic periodontitis in postmenopausal women, assessed by bone mineral density (BMD) and clinical attachment loss, respectively. The Pubmed, Cochrane central, EMBASE, and Google Scholar were searched from year 1990 to 2015 for studies on association between chronic periodontitis and osteoporosis. Studies measuring osteoporosis in terms of central BMD and periodontitis in terms of clinical attachment level were studied. Data were extracted and descriptive analysis was performed. Screening of 1188 articles resulted in 24 articles for review after reading the titles and abstracts. Fifteen studies were shortlisted for inclusion in systematic review. Ten of these studies showed an association between periodontitis and osteoporosis. It implies that patients with severe periodontitis should also be evaluated for systemic bone health and vice versa.