Stress efects on immunity and periodontal disease

Abstract

Recent studies in Periodontics have been demonstrating that the severity and the progression of periodontal disease can be influenced by factors such as behavior, environment and genetics. Among those factors, the stress has been receiving growing attention, in the last years, as possible risk factor to the disease. Studies in the field of the psychoneuroimmunology support the hypothesis that psychosocial factors posses significant relationship with different clinical outcomes, such as infectious diseases, diabetes, cancer and periodontal disease. The effects of the stress on the immune system happen for two main pathways, that are the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and the Hipothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis. The acute stress is related with activation of SNS and with increased levels of catecholamines in the blood, what will contemplate in certain transitory alterations in the number and in the activity of the leukocytes. Already in situations in that the stress is persistent or chronic it will have activation of the HPA axis, with liberation of the glucocorticoid hormone (cortisol) that is associated to the decrease of the immune functions, that can last long for several days or months. In that perspective, the objective of this work is to do an analysis of the literature regarding the mechanisms involved in the stress response, of the effects of the stress on immune system and of the works that pointed an association between the stress and the periodontal disease.