Association between periodontal disease and endothelial dysfunction assessed by flow-mediated dilation in the brachial artery. Pilot study

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate endothelial dysfunction through flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) in the brachial artery in smokers with advanced chronic periodontitis and compare it with smokers without periodontal disease, to determine whether there are differences in endothelial dysfunction among those with or without advanced chronic periodontitis. METHODS: We included 30 patients with smoking habit, 15 with advanced chronic periodontitis and 15 without periodontal disease. We performed a complete medical history, laboratory tests and flowmediated vasodilation test of the brachial artery. RESULTS: The study showed that there were significant differences in the final diameters, resulting from flow-mediated dilation (p = 0.0328), with lower final values for those with periodontal disease. The differences in the percentage responses and the number of people with specific dysfunction determined dichotomously did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSION: We observed that the group of patients with advanced chronic periodontitis had after the test resulting diameters that were significantly lower than those in the control group. Although when evaluating differences in percentages no statistical significance was found, the study showed a clearly lower response in vasodilation in the group with periodontal disease.