Association Between Cardiovascular Disease and Complete Edentulism in U.S. Adults

(1) <b>Background:</b> Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and edentulism are major public health challenges with shared risk factors and overlapping inflammatory pathways. This study investigates the association between complete tooth loss and CVD. (2) <b>Methods:</b> Data were analyzed from the 2015-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) dataset using Poisson regression analysis to examine the relationship between CVD and complete edentulism, adjusting for age, sex, education, family income-to-poverty ratio, race/ethnicity, diabetes status, and BMI. Of the 11,287 participants, 1763 individuals (15.62%) were completely edentulous, and 9524 (84.38%) retained some or all of their dentition. (3) <b>Results:</b> Individuals with cardiovascular conditions, including myocardial infarction (PR = 1.55; 95% CI: 1.23-1.98), coronary heart disease (PR = 1.44; 95% CI: 1.13-1.85), congestive heart failure (PR = 1.58; 95% CI: 1.22-2.07), and stroke (PR = 1.46; 95% CI: 1.13-1.90), demonstrated a higher prevalence of complete edentulism compared to those without these conditions, after adjusting for key demographic and health-related confounders (<i>p</i> < 0.01). (4) <b>Conclusions:</b> These findings suggest a statistical association between CVD and complete edentulism in U.S. adults. However, due to the cross-sectional nature of this study, causal relationships cannot be inferred, and further longitudinal studies are needed to understand the bidirectional mechanisms between CVD and complete edentulism.