Oral health is closely related to the appearance or development of other types of pathologies, and therefore directly affects people’s general state of health. In this article we will review the evidence that establishes the relationship between the health of the mouth and teeth, and kidney disease, a subject that is often unknown.

First of all, we must understand that this relationship is bidirectional. This means that poor oral health can lead to kidney disease, but that kidney disease can in turn lead to deterioration of our teeth and gums.

As early as 2008, a study published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases warned that gum disease such as periodontitis and tooth loss are non-traditional risk factors associated with the onset of chronic kidney disease. This is a pathology characterised by the progressive deterioration of kidney function that results, among other things, in the loss of the ability to produce urine and eliminate certain toxins.

In addition, in 2016 a research conducted in the United Kingdom and published in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology found that periodontitis increases the risk of all-cause mortality in people with chronic kidney disease to the same level as diabetes. While people with chronic kidney disease had a 32% risk of dying from any cause over a 10-year period, this risk rose to 41% in those with periodontitis.

As mentioned already, this relationship is bidirectional. This is illustrated by examples such as the paper published in the Revista Estomatológica Herediana, which showed that people with chronic renal failure undergoing haemodialysis had oral manifestations affecting the salivary glands, as well as soft and hard tissues.

Ninety per cent of chronic kidney disease patients in the study had oral signs and symptoms such as gingival hyperplasia or gum enlargement, xerostomia or dry mouth, tooth decay, and the appearance of saburral tongue, a whitish coating on the tongue made up of old cells, food debris and bacteria.

More recently, a study published in the journal Medicine established a major finding that increasing the frequency of toothbrushing can mitigate the risk of developing chronic kidney disease, especially when performed more than three times a day.

The evidence strongly suggests that prevention and hygiene measures in the field of oral health are of enormous importance in avoiding kidney disease, without forgetting that oral and dental alterations can be symptomatic of other diseases.

A timely check-up of our teeth and gums can be a key element in the prevention of general health, and is of enormous relevance in particularly vulnerable patients such as the elderly, in whom we often find have previous pathologies.

For this reason, at Lura Care we recommend regular dental check-ups, to prevent oral diseases which, as we have seen, can lead to other pathologies. And not forgetting the importance of developing and maintaining proper oral hygiene habits, such as regular brushing, flossing and mouthwashes, as we always remember in the training sessions on oral hygiene that we carry out in care homes to promote the oral health of their residents.