TOPLINE:

Children with dental caries and gingivitis had an increased risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) in later life. Childhood oral health that remained moderate to severe or worsened over time was associated with an even higher risk of developing ASCVD in later life.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a cohort study in Denmark to evaluate whether oral health during childhood was associated with the risk of developing ASCVD during adulthood.
• They included 568,778 individuals (291,058 men) born between 1963 and 1972 and retrieved their oral health status and ASCVD outcome data from national health registries.
• Dental caries and gingivitis were measured using standard severity scores. Disease trajectories were classified as worsening or improving on the basis of how these severity levels changed before and after the age of 12 years.
• The outcome was the first occurrence of ASCVD.
• Participants were followed up from 1995 or the age of 30 years until their first ASCVD event, censoring, or 2018, whichever occurred first.

TAKEAWAY:

• During follow-up, 10,049 men and 5705 women developed ASCVD. Most participants had moderate levels of dental caries (up to 68%) and gingivitis (57%-68%) during childhood.
• Men with high dental caries scores during childhood had a 32% higher risk for ASCVD during adulthood (hazard ratio [HR], 1.32; 95% CI, 1.18-1.50) than those with low dental caries scores. The risk was 21% higher in those with high gingivitis scores than in those with low gingivitis scores (HR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.10-1.32).
• In women, high dental caries and gingivitis scores were associated with 45% and 31% higher risks for ASCVD, respectively, than low scores.
• Worsening oral health trajectories during childhood with moderate-to-severe levels of disease were associated with up to a 45% higher risk for ASCVD in women and a 26% higher risk in men than stable trajectories with low levels of disease.

IN PRACTICE:

"[The study] findings suggest that both disease severity and trajectory of childhood oral disease, may represent early-life risk-factors for the development of ASCVD," the authors of the study wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Nikoline Nygaard, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. It was published online on January 01, 2026, in the International Journal of Cardiology.

LIMITATIONS:

This study could not adjust the analyses for smoking and dietary habits. Oral health during adulthood was not captured. The relatively young cohort resulted in fewer ASCVD events, which may have biased results towards early‑onset disease and reduced generalisability.

DISCLOSURES:

This study received funding through grants from the Danish Dental Association and the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The authors reported having no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.