Relationship between periodontal disease and osteoporosis

Background For many years an association between the low bone density of osteoporosis and increased risk of periodontal bone loss has been suspected. In this review the relationship between osteoporosis and periodontal disease is considered. Methods For this narrative review a very broad search strategy of the literature was developed using both PubMed and Scopus databases using the search words "perio" and "osteoporosis". The reference lists from the selected papers were also scanned and this provided an additional source of papers for inclusion. The inclusion/exclusion criteria, were also quite liberal with only those papers dealing with bisphosphonates and osteonecrosis of the jaws, osteoporosis in edentulous individuals, as well as those not written in English being excluded. Results The data available suggest that reduced bone mineral density is a shared risk factor for periodontitis rather than a causal factor. However, more prospective studies are required to fully determine what, if any, relationship truly exists between periodontitis and reduced bone mineral density. Conclusions More prospective studies are required to determine what, if any, relationships exist between periodontal disease and reduced bone mineral density.