Fast Facts: Perio Edition Episode 82
[Andrew Johnston, RDH]
Welcome back everyone! You are listening to another episode of Fast Facts- Perio Edition brought to you by A Tale of Two Hygienists in partnership with DentistRX. And now, please welcome your host, Katrina Sanders.
[Katrina Sanders, RDH]
Hello, and welcome to Fast Facts Perio Edition. This month, we're celebrating Turkey! Thanksgiving is upon us, and I'd be remiss to celebrate Turkey and not talk about what we understand about Turkey and periodontitis. Today's Fast Facts Perio Edition looks at some of the associations between the consumption of turkey or poultry and what that dietary pattern means for periodontitis.
There was a research study done, gosh just a year ago, and this study looked at how individuals supporting a DASH or Mediterranean diet style then elevate or reduce their risk of experiencing periodontal disease. So the DASH diet stands for Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension. This is where we're really looking to lower not only blood pressure, but also those LDLs. And so people that consume a DASH eating plan will consume high concentrations of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, fish, poultry, beans, nuts and seeds, and vegetable oils. And they will limit the amount of fatty meats, full fat dairy, sugar or sweetened beverages, sweets, and then sodium intake. That aligns pretty strongly with what we understand about the Mediterranean diet, where we are focused on olive oil consumption, servings of vegetables, pieces of fruit, and we're even looking at the consumption of wine, fish, seafood, and, of course, poultry.
Well, what we found in this massive study, almost 3000 individuals with varying stages of periodontitis, was that when these individuals adhered and strongly adhered to either the DASH diet or the Mediterranean diet, that we saw changes in their periodontitis levels. Now, of course, we look at concentrations of BMI or hypertension. And of course, we found that systemically, that the changes in their dietary components led to a reduction in BMI, reduction in hypertension, and in many cases even saw a change in their C reactive protein values. But we know that diet has an optimal impact or can have a detrimental impact on overall systemic inflammation. And we found this, of course, to even be true when we looked at localized inflammation in the oral cavity. We found that individuals who adhered to a DASH diet or a Mediterranean diet presented or experienced lower bleeding upon probing indices and lower plaque indices when compared with those individuals who were not as adherent or had a lower adherence level to this particular diet. And so, of course, when we take a look at a lot of these comparisons, we understand that periodontal disease is a polymicrobial complex disease process. And the adherence to an optimal diet to help reduce the amount of inflammation ends up helping our patients to experience better outcomes in controlling their periodontal conditions. So slice one more piece of turkey this Thanksgiving knowing that you're helping to address any potential periodontal inflammation in the oral cavity.
This has been another episode of Fast Facts - Perio Edition with Katrina Sanders, RDH. Please feel free to reach me on Instagram @thedentalwinegenist or on my website www.KatrinaSanders.com Cheers.
[Andrew Johnston, RDH]
Thank you for listening to another episode of Fast Facts - Perio Edition, brought to you in part by DentistRX makers of the InteliSonic line of power brushes. Find out more by visiting their website at www.dentistrx.com. We'll see you next week for another Fast Fact!
Resource:
Altun E, Walther C, Borof K, Petersen E, Lieske B, Kasapoudis D, Jalilvand N, Beikler T, Jagemann B, Zyriax BC, Aarabi G. Association between Dietary Pattern and Periodontitis - A Cross -Sectional Study. Nutrients. 2021 Nov 21;13(11):4167. doi: 10.3390/nu13114167. PMID: 34836422; PMCID: PMC8621734.
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/education/dash-eating-plan
