JBR Journal of Interdisciplinary Medicine and Dental Science
Open Access

Research Article

The Effect of Menopause on the Periodontium- A Review

Anna Abraham¹ and Fawaz Pullishery^2*

¹Department of Periodontics, Educare Institute Of Dental Sciences, India

²Department of Public Health Dentistry, Educare Institute Of Dental Sciences, India

Corresponding Author:

Fawaz Pullishery
Senior Lecturer, Department of Public Health Dentistry
Educare Institute Of Dental Sciences
Chattiparamb, Kerala-676504, India
Tel: +61-414-596-304
E-mail: drfawazp@gmail.com

Received Date: January 20, 2015; Accepted Date: February 24, 2015; Published Date: February 27, 2015

Citation: Anna Abraham, Fawaz Pullishery (2015) The Effect of Menopause on the Periodontium- A Review . J Interdiscipl Med Dent Sci 3:170. doi: 10.4172/2376-032X.1000170

Copyright: © 2015 Abraham and Pullishery. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Sex hormones like estrogen and progesterone are responsible for physiological changes in women at specific phases of their life. Menopause is associated with symptoms of estrogen deficiency. Estradial levels fall gradually in the years before menopause. Levels of follicle- stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) begin to rise and the levels of sex hormones begin to fluctuate. This causes changes in the periodontium like xerostomia, burning sensation in the oral mucosa, bleeding on probing and brushing, bad taste and alveolar bone loss. The most significant problem seen during menopause is osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by low bone mass and fragility causing an increase in fracture risk. There is a reduction in bone mass caused by an imbalance between bone resorption and formation, favouring resorption resulting in demineralization of bone.

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