Periodontal Treatment and Ischemic Stroke

A bulk of observational evidence suggests an association between periodontitis and recurrent vascular events in ischemic stroke survivors. One plausible biological mechanism relies on the systemic inflammatory response posed by periodontitis together with changes in the normal function of the vascular endothelium which might lead to recurrence in these population. A non-pharmacological anti-inflammatory treatment (non-surgical periodontal therapy) has shown to reduce systemic inflammatory markers and improve endothelial function. Therefore, we propose to carry out a 1-year follow-up pilot randomized controlled clinical trial to investigate whether control of local and systemic inflammation as well as improve function of the vascular endothelium can lead to reduce the risk of recurrence in patients diagnosed from ischemic stroke.