Summary :
Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the oral health in monozygotic twins where one twin had coronary heart disease (CHD) and the other twin had no clinical signs of the disease. Methods: Ten monozygotic twin pairs (age 55–81 years, eight male, and two female pairs) were recruited from the Swedish twin register. The inclusion criterion for participation was discordance regarding the presence of CHD within every twin pair. All participants underwent a full dental clinical examination including a panoramic radiograph. Results: Twins with CHD had 51.5% bleeding on probing compared with 21.1% without CHD (p50.01), and more pathological pockets (X4 mm) were detected among those with CHD (20
15 versus 8
5), p50.047). Twins with CHD had a reduced horizontal bone level in comparison with the healthy group (73% versus 78%, p50.03). Logistic analyses using odds ratio (OR) showed that an increase of one periodontal pocket (X4 mm) resulted in an increased risk for the actual twin of belonging to the CHD group (OR 1.17, p50.03). Conclusions: This study indicates worsened periodontal conditions among twins with CHD compared with their siblings with no history of CHD. This strengthens the association between periodontal inflammation and the presence of atherosclerosis.

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