Exercise habituation is effective for improvement of periodontal disease status: a prospective intervention study

Abstract

Shoei Omori,1,2 Fumihiko Uchida,3 Sechang Oh,4,5 Rina So,6 Takehiko Tsujimoto,7 Toru Yanagawa,8 Satoshi Sakai,4 Junichi Shoda,4,5 Kiyoji Tanaka,9 Hiroki Bukawa8 1Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Clinical Sciences, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan; 2Department of Dental Oral Surgery, Kitaibaraki City Hospital, Kitaibaraki, Ibaraki, Japan; 3Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Tsukuba Hospital, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan; 4Department of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan; 5The Center of Sports Medicine and Health Sciences, Tsukuba University Hospital, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan; 6Research Center for Overwork-Related Disorders, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan; 7Department of Sports Medicine, Faculty of Human Sciences, Shimane University, Matsue, Shimane, Japan; 8Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan; 9Department of Sports Medicine, Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan Background and purpose: Periodontal disease is closely related to lifestyle-related diseases and obesity. It is widely known that moderate exercise habits lead to improvement in lifestyle-related diseases and obesity. However, little research has been undertaken into how exercise habits affect periodontal disease. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of exercise habits on periodontal diseases and metabolic pathology. Methods: We conducted a prospective intervention research for 12 weeks. The subjects were 71 obese men who participated in an exercise and/or dietary intervention program. Fifty subjects were assigned to exercise interventions (exercise intervention group) and 21 subjects were assigned to dietary interventions (dietary intervention group). This research was conducted before and after each intervention program. Results: In the exercise intervention group, the number of teeth with a probing pocket depth (PPD) ≥4 mm significantly decreased from 14.4% to 5.6% (P<0.001), and the number of teeth with bleeding on probing (BOP) significantly decreased from 39.8% to 14.4% (P<0.001). The copy counts of Tannerella forsythia and Treponema denticola decreased significantly (P=0.001). A positive correlation was found between the change in the copy count of T. denticola and the number of teeth with PPD ≥4 mm (P=0.003) and the number of teeth with BOP (P=0.010). A positive correlation was also found between the change in the copy count of T. denticola and body weight (P=0.008), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P=0.049), and fasting insulin (P=0.041). However, in the dietary intervention group the copy count of T. denticola decreased significantly (P=0.007) and there was no correlation between the number of periodontal disease-causing bacteria and PPD and BOP. Conclusion: Our results are the first to show that exercise might contribute to improvements in periodontal disease. Keywords: bacteria, intervention studies, lifestyle, metabolic syndrome, obesity, periodontal disease, periodontal statu