Medical Tribune News Service and the New York Times Syndicate's Your Health Daily are reporting that estrogenreplacement therapy following menopause may help reduce tooth loss among women by helping to prevent osteoporosis. The report points to a study of almost 4,000 women in a California retirement community, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, which found that women "who' took estrogen were 36 percent less likely to have no teeth than women who didn't take hormones."
According to the article, the study's author, Annlia PaganiniHill of the University of Southern California School of Medicine in Los Angeles, asserts that severe osteoporosis makes women three times more likely to lose their teeth, probably due to loss of supporting bone structure in the jaw that holds teeth in place.
While PaganiniHill admits that the study needs to be confirmed by further studies, these findings suggest a new and closer relationship between dentists and doctors, the article states. Dr. Marcel Saliv senior investigator at the National Institute on Aging, who, according to the article, finds the study "suggestive, but not really definitive," points out that "[Tooth loss] may be the earliest clinical sign of osteoporosis, which is an important message for the medical profession to ally themselves with the dentist."