Are gum problems and tooth loss another COVID-19 symptom and unexpected consequences of coronavirus infection? This is what some experts suggest when analyzing subsequent cases of patients who, after contracting COVID-19, complain of gum problems or even lose their teeth.
Can SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection lead to tooth loss? There is no reliable evidence for this yet. However, such symptoms are more and more often described by people who have had COVID-19.
Online support groups for convalescents also describe the consequences of COVID-19, such as brain fog, persistent loss of smell and taste, muscle aches, prolonged weakness and fatigue,gum problems - primarily their excessive sensitivity and inflammation - as well as deterioration of the condition of the teeth: change in their color, crumbling and in some cases loss, which was described as "tooth loss without bleeding or pain".
As Dr. David Okano, a periodontist at the University of Utah in S alt Lake City, told The New York Times, there is no hard evidence that COVID-19 can cause dental symptoms.However, as a result of COVID-19, the problems that the patient already hasmay worsen - even if he was not aware of them so far.
And many people have such problems. The report presented by the CDC shows that in the US as much as 47 percent. People aged 30 and over have some gum problem and suffer from some form of periodontal disease. In Poland, these results are much worse, which has been reported by dentists for years - GSK Consumer He althcare data shows that over 50 percent. Poles over 40 have dentures, every fifth of us brushes their teeth once a day, nearly 4 million compatriots do not wash them at all. Caries is 98 percent. adult Poles.
The problem of tooth loss after COVID-19 is relatively new- requires further research, which has been announced by various scientific and research institutions, including the Angiogenesis Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to examination of the condition and diseases of blood vessels. Perhaps the fact that people who have recovered have their teeth fall out, but without bleeding, means that the virus is damaging the blood vessels in the gums, according toThe New York Times of Dr. William W. Li, physician and president of the Angiogenesis Foundation, may also explain why tooth loss is not accompanied by pain.
Studies have shown thatpeople who have diseased gums and decayed teeth are more at risk of complications in the event of contracting COVID-19.This is because during the trial inflammatory disease, which occurs, inter alia, in the course of chronic gum disease, IL-6 (interleukin-6) is released, an inflammatory cytokine that can lead to an uncontrolled reaction of the immune system, the so-called a cytokine storm. Research published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology shows that patients with elevated IL-6 levels were 22 times more likely to suffer from respiratory failure and required mechanical ventilation.