Bone loss is a feature of both periodontitis and osteoporosis,and periodontal destruction may be influenced by systemic boneloss. This study evaluated the association between periodontaldisease and bone mineral density (BMD) in a cohort of 1347 (137edentulous) older men followed for an average of 2.7 years.Participants were recruited from the Osteoporotic Fracturesin Men Study. Random half-mouth dental measures included clinicalattachment loss (CAL), pocket depth (PD), calculus, plaque,and bleeding. BMD was measured at the hip, spine, and whole-body,by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, and at the heel by ultrasound.After adjustment for age, smoking, race, education, body massindex, and calculus, there was no association between numberof teeth, periodontitis, periodontal disease progression, andeither BMD or annualized rate of BMD change. We found littleevidence of an association between periodontitis and skeletalBMD among older men.
