Periodontitis, Edentulism, and Accelerated Biological Aging: A Population-Based Study of Epigenetic Clocks

Chen, Wang, Romandini and Michaud analysed 1,926 adults aged 50 years and older from the 1999–2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. They compared periodontal status and edentulism with four DNA-methylation clocks. Stage III or IV periodontitis was associated with 2.12 additional PhenoAge years, 1.48 Hannum years and 1.35 GrimAge2Mort years after adjustment. Edentulism was associated with 1.31 additional Horvath years, 1.92 Hannum years and 1.77 GrimAge2Mort years. Severe or high-grade periodontal disease showed the clearest associations. The paper links oral disease burden with biological-age markers, not with future lifespan or a proven aging mechanism. The sample is large enough to make the association useful for hypothesis generation, and the repeated direction across clocks is notable. The study is cross-sectional and uses older survey data, so reverse causation and residual confounding remain possible. Poor health could contribute to both oral disease and accelerated clock values. A dental intervention trial would be needed to test whether treating periodontitis changes epigenetic age.

Severe periodontitis and edentulism were associated with accelerated epigenetic aging across multiple clocks.