Periodontal disease is a chronic multifactorial infectious and inflammatory disease associated with several chronic systemic diseases, such as diabetes,
cardiovascular diseases (CVD),
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,
hypertension,
Alzheimer's disease and so on. These same systemic diseases have been associated with severe
COVID-19 infections. Several recent studies have suggested hypotheses for the potential association between
periodontal disease and severe
COVID-19.
Periodontal disease is also one of the most prevalent diseases globally. All this supports the importance of good oral health, also in the
COVID-19 era. Thus, new strategies and approaches to identify patients at risk of
periodontal disease could be beneficial to enhance
secondary prevention, especially if targeted to
COVID-19 risk groups. Diagnostic
biomarkers for
periodontal disease have been researched extensively. Potential
biomarkers in oral fluid with currently available rapid non-invasive point-of-care technology, such as aMMP-8, could help to extend screening and identification of patients at risk for
periodontal disease also to situations and places where professional dental expertise and equipment are limited or unavailable. i.e., nursing and care homes, and rural and distant places. The oral fluid point-of-care technologies could also be useful in the hands of medical professionals (diabetes, CVD, etc.) to identify patients at risk for undiagnosed
periodontal disease and to refer them to a dentist for examination and evaluation. Finally, if there is a causality between
periodontal disease and severe
COVID-19 infections, these point-of-care oral fluid
biomarker technologies could possibly also help in the assessment of the risk of deterioration and complications.