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WASHINGTON, April 4 (AFP) - A standard dental x-ray that shows a build-up of arterial plaque can give an early warning of severe heart attack and stroke risk, research presented to the International Association for Dental Research revealed earlier this week.
University of Buffalo School of Dental Medicine researchers studied teeth and jaw x-rays of 818 Pima Indian patients of Arizona's Gila River community, who are known for their low cigarette smoking incidence and tendency towards non-insulin dependent diabetes.
They found that the 7.5% of the group seen in the x-rays, taken from 1983-1990, to have build-up of calcified plaque in the carotid arteries were at twice the risk of dying from heart attack or stroke, based on death statistics.
"Results of this study move us closer to the use of panoramic dental radiograph as a screening tool for all cardiovascular disease," said senior author of the study, Laurie Carter, an associate professor of oral diagnostic sciences.
In an earlier study published in 1997, Carter established that x-rays of teeth and jaw bone taken of 2,700 patients, showed calcium deposits in the carotid arteries – carrying blood from the heart to the brain and back – at each side of the neck. She says similar research in the general population is in demand.
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