Scientists have discovered a significant link between poor oral health and systemic diseases—including specific cancers—centered around oral dysbiosis. Oral hygiene is crucial in balancing oral bacteria and promoting overall health.

Oral microbiome dysbiosis persisted even after dental treatment-induced disease remission with a sustained increased risk of disease when compared with healthy participants.

In the past two decades, a considerable body of research has focused on exploring the potential association between oral health and several general health outcomes. The Global Burden of Disease Study has reported that poor oral health was one of the ten leading causes of loss of healthy longevity among older people.

The interplay between oral health and frailty is probably mediated by nutritional status: having fewer teeth, reduced masticatory force, or oral pain is likely to reduce nutrient intake, with frailty developing from muscle wasting and bone weakening. This occurrence probably produces a negative feedback loop, with sarcopenia then reducing the ability to chew and swallow. Notably, oral health of older people has been shown to decline when they first enter assisted living irrespective of their previous health status; although the exact causes are unknown, possible reasons include side effects of polypharmacy (eg, having a dry mouth), or an inability to carry out personal dental care from physical or mental disability. Furthermore, frailty is not the only systemic condition affected by poor oral health

Results suggest scale and polish treatments and delivering brief personalized oral hygiene advice provide no clinical benefit and are therefore an inefficient approach to improving dental health (38% of sites were bleeding whatever intervention was received). However, the general population value both interventions.

Older adults with edentulism and poor oral health had an increased risk of developing frailty over a 12-month period.