Symptoms of severe periodontitis are associated with lung function decline and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the Chinese population

Background: The associations between periodontitis and post-bronchodilator lung function decline and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are not clear. We aimed to determine the associations between symptoms of severe periodontitis and pre- and post-bronchodilator lung function decline and COPD in the Chinese population. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in a large Chinese nationally representative sample of 49,202 participants aged 20–89 years. Data on demographic characteristics, symptoms of severe periodontitis included tooth mobility and natural tooth loss, frequency of tooth brushing and other information were collected. Pre- and post-bronchodilator lung function data were also collected. Results Symptoms of severe periodontitis were significantly associated with pre- and post- bronchodilator lung function variables decline in the multivariable adjusted multiple linear regression models (all p  < 0.001), and were also associated with pre- and post-forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV 1 ) / forced vital capacity (FVC) < 0.7 (odds ratios (OR) = 1.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05–1.19, p  = 0.001 and OR = 1.08, 95%CI 1.01–1.16, p = 0.03) in the multivariable adjusted multiple logistic regression models. Never brush tooth is associated with pre- and post-FEV 1 /FVC decline and pre- and post-FEV 1 /FVC < 0.7 in the multivariable adjusted multiple regression models (all p  < 0.01). Conclusions Our data suggest that symptoms of severe periodontitis included tooth mobility and natural tooth loss are both associated with pre- and post-bronchodilator lung function decline and COPD (post-FEV 1 /FVC < 0.7) in the Chinese population.