Healthy aging: when periodontal health matters

Providing care for the elderly has been considered a significant challenge for modern medicine. As age progresses, diseases become more frequent and severe than those observed at a younger age. This is particularly relevant for infectious diseases, typical in the elderly and usually associated with poor outcomes. Moreover, when persisting and diffusing into the bloodstream (i.e. bacteremia), these infections keep up with the demand for immune cells’ response and consequently increase the concentration of inflammatory markers systemically. This phenomenon is known as “inflammaging”, which potentially triggers or facilitates the development and progression of several age-related disorders, such as cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Periodontal disease is one of the most prominent among the disparate number of causal factors responsible for bacteremia and low-grade systemic inflammation in the aging population. This inflammatory disorder is triggered by a dysbiosis of certain bacterial species that activates a massive local toxic deleterious immune response leading to non-reversible damage of supportive tissues surrounding the teeth. In chronic, oral pathogens and their toxic factors can penetrate the bloodstream contributing to systemic inflammation. Based on this premise, it seems evident that maintaining oral health in the elderly is vital not just for owning healthy mouth but also because it contributes to a healthy aging. This review provides an updated account of molecular insights into the bidirectional association between oral health and “successful” aging.