New research from the University of Sydney has revealed poor oral health is significantly associated with higher instances of migraines, abdominal and body pain in women.
Published in Frontiers in Pain Research, the world-first study identified specific oral microbes correlated with certain pain conditions, suggesting a potential relationship between the oral microbiome and the nervous system.
“This is the first study to investigate oral health, oral microbiota and pain commonly experienced in women with fibromyalgia, with our study showing a clear and significant association between poor oral health and pain,” lead investigator Associate Professor Joanna Harnett said.
“Our findings are particularly important to fibromyalgia which, despite being a common rheumatological condition, is often under recognised,” Sharon Erdrich added.
The research examined associations between self-reported oral health, the oral microbiome, and various pain presentations in a group of New Zealand women with and without fibromyalgia.
Oral health was assessed using the WHO oral health questionnaire and evaluated against body pain, headaches, migraines, and abdominal pain.
Strong associations were evident between oral health scores and pain and each of these were associated with specific microbes found in the mouth, which were assessed using advanced genomic technology.
Participants with the poorest oral health were more likely to suffer from higher pain scores: 60 per cent were more likely to experience moderate to severe body pain, and 49 per cent were more likely to experience migraine headaches. Lower oral health was a statistically significant predictor of frequent and chronic migraine.
Four oral microbial species from the Dialister, Fusobacterium, Parvimonas and Solobacterium genera were significantly associated with pain after age, BMI and added dietary sugars were considered.
