Investigating the association between periodontal disease and systemic diseases

Worldwide, periodontal disease affects about 20-50% of the population and is one of the largest contributors to poor oral health. Research has found that periodontal disease may be associated with systemic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, respiratory disease and diabetes. However, the existing research could not study the association systematically due to data limitation. In addition, there is little understanding of the disease development for people with oral disease. It is imperative that a full understanding of the causal pathways and consequences of periodontal disease is acquired before high impact interventions can be developed. It is possible to look into such complex relationship between oral health and systemic disease, with the help of the UK Biobank database that includes detailed data collection and genetic information on these conditions. Advanced statistical and data mining techniques will allow us to explore whether or not periodontal disease can cause other systemic diseases.
This project aims to investigate the relationship between periodontal disease and systemic disease, and identify individual and genetic factors that may influence such association. The project will also study what disease conditions would develop subsequently in these people with periodontal disease, and compare that with people without the disease. This study will utilise both traditional statistical methods and novel machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques, and evaluate their applications to assess the relationship between periodontal disease and systemic disease.
The project is planned for 36 months initially, but due to the complex nature of the analysis, it may need to be extended for a longer period.
Understanding the association between periodontal disease and other disease conditions could help health care workers to prioritise treatment of periodontal disease to prevent and reduce the risk of developing other systemic disease conditions.