Patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are more likely to develop periodontitis than are those without PCOS, according to a Turkish research group.

Women with PCOS are known to have an increased risk of developing the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular complications. Periodontitis is associated with other systemic disorders; however, whether women with PCOS have an increased risk of periodontitis is unknown. “We, therefore, aimed to investigate periodontal status in women with PCOS,” explains Bülent Okan Yildiz (Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey).

The researchers assessed a range of parameters in 25 nonobese women with PCOS and 27 healthy control individuals matched for age and weight. All of the patients with PCOS had raised androgen levels and chronic oligo-anovulation.

The women with PCOS had higher clinical peridontal parameters (probing depth, gingival index, bleeding on probing and plaque index) and gingival crevicular fluid than controls. This suggests “an increased susceptibility for periodontitis ... in lean and normal glucose-tolerant women with PCOS,” explains Yildiz. These patients did not have periodontal bone loss, instead their periodontal disease was at the gingival level. As the patients in the study were young (mean 22.7 ± 3.6 years), these findings suggest that gingivitis could be an indication for later development of periodontitis.

As this study was preliminary, larger studies that include women with a range of symptoms associated with PCOS are needed to confirm these findings. “Physicians would then need to inform women with PCOS about this risk of periodontal disease and might recommend periodontal evaluation by a dentist,” concludes Yildiz.