Turkish research suggested that men who suffer from serious periodontitis are likely to have erectile dysfunction.

The study, published in Journal of Sexual Medicine, selected 80 men from the age of 30 to 40 with erection problems. The control group was composed of 82 men of the same age. Other possible factors such as BMI or income and education level were controlled for. Among those with erectile dysfunction, 53 percent had inflamed gums. Only 23 percent of the control group had dental problems. This implies that men with severe dental problems are 3.29 times more likely to have erectile dysfunction than men with healthy gums.

Based on experts’ analysis, the health of gums and sexual performance are both related to a vascular condition that causes coronary diseases.

The lead researcher, Dr. Faith Oguz from Inonu University in Malatya, Turkey said, “To our knowledge, erectile dysfunction and chronic periodontitis in humans are caused by similar risk factors, such as aging, smoking, diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease. We therefore excluded men who had systemic disease and who were smokers from this study.”

The team said that men’s sex problems were diagnosed in accordance with the International Index of Erectile Function and the health of the gums in accordance with plague index and bleeding.


From news reports