Periodontal disease, also known as gum disease, ranked as the 6th most prevalent global health, affects about 15% of the global population. Research has found that gum disease may be associated with autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Coeliac Disease and type 1 diabetes. However, the existing research could not study the association systematically due to data limitations. In addition, there is little understanding of the disease development for people with gum disease. It is imperative that a full understanding of the causal pathways and consequences of gum disease is acquired before high impact interventions can be developed. It is possible to look into such complex relationships between gum health and autoimmune 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 gum disease can cause other autoimmune diseases.
This project aims to investigate the relationship between gum disease and autoimmune disease, identify environmental and genetic factors that may influence such association and speculate potential common mechanism of gum disease and a range of autoimmune diseases.
Understanding the association between gum disease and other disease conditions could help health care workers to prioritize treatment of gum disease to prevent and reduce the risk of developing other autoimmune disease conditions.
