Periodontal disease and clinical association with COVID-19 infection

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 infection can cause long-standing damage to the immune system characterized by increasedinflammatory cytokine activation. Maintaining periodontal health may reduce host susceptibility to COVID-19and prevent COVID-19 aggravation in infected patients. There is sufficient evidence in the literature towarrant an association between the presence of PDs and the development and course of respiratory illnesses.Optimum oral health, maintaining good systemic health, and elimination of smoking habits may be beneficialfor the prevention and management of COVID-19 infections. Future studies on the periodontal status ofpatients with COVID-19, including from mild to severe forms, could allow the opportune identification ofpeople at risk of severe illness and generate relevant recommendations. The connection, if any, betweenthe oral microbiome and COVID-19 complications is urgently required to establish the importance of oralhygiene and pre-existing oral disease in the severity and mortality risk of COVID-19.