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Men in their thirties who had inflamed gums caused
by severe periodontal disease were three times more
likely to suffer from erection problems.
Turkish researchers compared 80 men aged 30 to 40
with erectile dysfunction with a control group of 82
men without erection problems.
This showed that 53 per cent of the men with
erectile dysfunction had inflamed gums compared with
23 per cent in the control group.
When the results were adjusted for other factors,
such as age, body mass index, household income and
education level, the men with severe periodontal
disease were 3.29 times more likely to suffer from
erection problems than men with healthy gums.
"Erectile dysfunction is a major public health
problem that affects the quality of life of some 150
million men, and their partners, worldwide," says
lead author Dr. Faith Oguz from Inonu University in
Malatya, Turkey.
"Physical factors cause nearly two-thirds of cases,
mainly because of problems with the blood vessels,
with psychological issues like emotional stress and
depression accounting for the remainder.
"Chronic periodontitis (CP) is a group of infectious
diseases caused predominantly by bacteria that most
commonly occur with inflammation of the gums. "Many
studies have reported that CP may induce systemic
vascular diseases, such as coronary heart disease,
which have been linked with erection problems."
The average age of the men in both groups was just
under 36 and there were no significant differences
when it came to body mass index, household income
and education. Their sexual function was assessed
using the International Index of Erectile Function
and their gum health using the plaque index,
bleeding on probing, probing depth and clinical
attachment level.
"To our knowledge, erectile dysfunction and CP in
humans are caused by similar risk factors, such as
ageing, smoking, diabetes mellitus and coronary
artery disease," says Dr. Oguz. "We therefore
excluded men who had systemic disease and who were
smokers from this study.
"We particularly selected men aged between 30 and 40
to assess the impact of CP on erectile dysfunction
without the results being influenced by the effects
of ageing.
"The result of our study support the theory that CP
is present more often in patients with erectile
dysfunction than those without and should be
considered as a factor by clinicians treating men
with erection problems."
More information
Oguz et al. "Is There a Relationship Between Chronic
Periodontitis and Erectile Dysfunction?" The Journal
of Sexual Medicine 2012.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2012.02974.x
(MDN)
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