POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CORONAVIRUS-2 (SARS-COV-2) AND PERIODONTAL DISEASE

Authors: Hülya YILDIZ

Abstract:

Since December 2019, the world has been struggling with a viral infection that had emerged in Wuhan, China, becoming an epidemic spread to many countries over a short time. On March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) called it COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of people around the world became infected with the virus and died due to pneumonia or multiple organ disfunction syndromes. COVID-19 is a respiratory tract disease that can be transmitted by droplets, contact, aerosols; when it becomes contagious, it binds to the Angiotension Converting Enzyme II (ACE2) receptors on the surface of the epithelial cells in the respiratory tract. It shows a very high degree of contagiouness and can damage lungs and other organs. Comorbidities such as age, gender, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and hypertension are risk factors for the complications of COVID-19 infection. They cause a more severe disease in some people. Similar factors are also associated with the periodontal pathogens causing periodontal diseases different from one individual to another.A possible relation between SARS-CoV-2 and bacterial load and the complications it causes may be related to oral health and periodontal diseases. As known, comorbidities caused by risk factors of COVID-19 also cause changes in the oral flora and increase the risk of periodontal disease. Since there are similar risk factors between periodontal diseases and COVID-19, a relation between them appears as possible. It is emphasized that the oral cavity and mucosa may be related to the transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords:
  • comorbidities
  • covid-19
  • pandemic
  • periodontitis
  • RISK FACTORS