{"id":233211,"date":"2023-11-21T11:51:01","date_gmt":"2023-11-21T16:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=233211"},"modified":"2023-11-21T12:27:24","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T17:27:24","slug":"phd-student-examines-connection-between-gum-disease-and-reproductive-health","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2023\/phd-student-examines-connection-between-gum-disease-and-reproductive-health\/","title":{"rendered":"PhD Student Examines Connection Between Gum Disease and Reproductive Health"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin sphnews-block-editorial-leadin is-style-text-over-image has-media has-box has-media-focus-center-middle has-text-position-x-right has-text-position-y-bottom has-primary-theme\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2023\/11\/Julia-Bond-1Q6A0873-scaled-2.jpeg\" class=\"\" alt=\"Headshot of Julia Bond\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2023\/11\/Julia-Bond-1Q6A0873-scaled-2.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2023\/11\/Julia-Bond-1Q6A0873-scaled-2-636x424.jpeg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2023\/11\/Julia-Bond-1Q6A0873-scaled-2-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2023\/11\/Julia-Bond-1Q6A0873-scaled-2-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2023\/11\/Julia-Bond-1Q6A0873-scaled-2-1536x1025.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2023\/11\/Julia-Bond-1Q6A0873-scaled-2-2048x1366.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2023\/11\/Julia-Bond-1Q6A0873-scaled-2-755x504.jpeg 755w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2023\/11\/Julia-Bond-1Q6A0873-scaled-2-1499x1000.jpeg 1499w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2023\/11\/Julia-Bond-1Q6A0873-scaled-2-900x600.jpeg 900w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2023\/11\/Julia-Bond-1Q6A0873-scaled-2-450x300.jpeg 450w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2023\/11\/Julia-Bond-1Q6A0873-scaled-2-600x400.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2023\/11\/Julia-Bond-1Q6A0873-scaled-2-1920x1281.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2023\/11\/Julia-Bond-1Q6A0873-scaled-2-1200x801.jpeg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner has-opacity-60\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">dental health<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhD Student Examines Connection Between Gum Disease and Reproductive Health\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">Julia Bond\u00a0is conducting research with\u00a0a\u00a0grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and her findings indicate a positive association between a preconception history of tooth mobility and risk of spontaneous abortion.<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar js-block-editorial-metabar sphnews-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">November 21, 2023<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/authors\/rachel-grace-philipson\/\">Rachel Grace Philipson<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p>Gum health may be one of the last things on people\u2019s minds when they are actively trying to become pregnant, but there\u2019s a well-known association between periodontitis during pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes. Now, Julia Bond (SPH&#8217;24) is trying to learn more about whether that association extends to gum health before pregnancy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2022, Bond received a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (F31 grant) from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research to examine the association between preconception periodontitis and reproductive health outcomes. Now, halfway through the grant, Bond said it has been a wonderful experience participating in high quality oral health research using self-reported observational data.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think the point of an F31 is that you combine a training plan with research to get a broad training experience,\u201d Bond said. \u201cMy experience, thus far, is that I\u2019ve really been able to learn a whole lot about not just my aims, but also the other training components that we put in the plan.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The F31 grant provides Bond with two and a half years of funding for research that examines preconception periodontitis in relation to spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) and predictors of preconception oral health status. Some of the research findings from the ongoing investigation on spontaneous abortion were recently published in the&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/academic-oup-com.ezproxy.bu.edu\/aje\/article\/192\/9\/1509\/7203858?login=true&amp;token=eyJhbGciOiJub25lIn0.eyJleHAiOjE3MDEwMTU0OTAsImp0aSI6IjJiNzA4YWIxLWRlNDEtNGFkOS05MTRkLWY2ZDgxMjllNWEwMiJ9.#415607842\" target=\"_blank\">American Journal of Epidemiology,<\/a>&nbsp;indicating a positive association between a preconception history of tooth mobility and risk of spontaneous abortion, but little association for a preconception history of periodontitis diagnosis or treatment.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bond is also investigating the potential to conduct a target trial (or imitation of a randomized trial using observational data) to evaluate the effect of treatment of preconception periodontitis on time to pregnancy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She has been using observational data from the web-based study of couples\u2019 fertility in North America, the <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/presto\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Boston University Pregnancy Study Online<\/a> (PRESTO). As of October 24, 17,775 primary participants and 4,090 of their partners have enrolled in PRESTO.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The benefit of the PRESTO data, according to Bond, is that people are enrolled&nbsp;<em>before<\/em>&nbsp;they become pregnant and are then followed through conception to pregnancy outcome. This means that the cohort includes preconception baseline data, said Bond.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is a cool opportunity to have a cohort with a ton of different predictors that maybe haven\u2019t been looked at in relation to oral healthcare engagement and figure out if we can make profiles of people who are not going to the dentist and if we can draw any new conclusions about what may or may not be keeping people out of the dental office,\u201d Bond said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bond\u2019s mentor is Brenda Heaton (SPH&#8217;05,&#8217;12), GSDM adjunct associate professor of health policy &amp; health services research and School of Public Health adjunct associate professor of epidemiology. The pair has also worked together researching&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/dental\/2023\/02\/24\/research-spotlight-gum-disease\/\" target=\"_blank\">periodontal mortality<\/a>, further solidifying previous findings that men with periodontal disease were at a greater risk of dying earlier.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a School of Public Health epidemiology doctoral student, Bond said she became interested in researching reproductive health after she got pregnant, but she did not envision pursuing any overlapping dental research. After she started working with Heaton in 2019, though, she saw the benefits of examining the relationship between oral health and overall health. According to Bond, Heaton has been the perfect mentor to help guide her research.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s the best,\u201d Bond said. \u201cI really think none of this really would\u2019ve happened without Dr. Heaton\u2019s support. She was the one who really encouraged me to look into this.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lauren Wise, professor of epidemiology and PRESTO principal investigator, said the goal of PRESTO is to identify modifiable determinants of successful reproduction and healthy pregnancy. According to Wise, there has been a growing amount of research on the relationship between oral health and adverse reproductive and perinatal outcomes, such as chronic periodontal inflammation potentially causing early uterine contractions.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As an additional outcome of Bond\u2019s work, Heaton, in partnership with Wise, received new funding in September 2023 from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research to further investigate the role of preconception oral health on adverse pregnancy outcomes, including gestational hypertension and diabetes, eclampsia, and pre-term and\/or low birthweight outcomes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI am delighted that Julia Bond and Dr. Brenda Heaton were successful in receiving this F31 grant that leverages data from the PRESTO cohort to answer critical questions about dental health and reproductive outcomes,\u201d Wise said. \u201cI believe that their work is paradigm-shifting in generating novel and critically important scientific data for advancing clinical care and improving population health.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The current work builds on&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/humrep\/article\/36\/8\/2298\/6209770\" target=\"_blank\">a previous paper published by Bond in&nbsp;<em>Human Reproduction<\/em><\/a>, which found that people with a history of periodontitis, as measured by three different self-reported measures, took longer to become pregnant compared to people without that history. This original study prompted the investigation into other reproductive outcomes associated with preconception periodontitis and thus the development of the F31.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat was exciting,\u201d Bond said. \u201cThat was the beginning of a road into, \u2018Are we seeing a connection between periodontitis and reproductive health outcomes if the periodontitis is happening&nbsp;<em>before<\/em>&nbsp;conception?\u2019\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Bond, there is much that is still unknown about reproductive health outcomes, but it\u2019s vital to explore the possible connections between oral health and outcomes such as infertility or spontaneous abortion. Understanding more about the links between oral health and these outcomes might generate knowledge that can inform biological models [experimental systems that recreate aspects of human tissue function or disease], she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bond said she hopes her work will help highlight that the preconception period is an important window for individuals trying to become pregnant, and they need to be cognizant of both their oral and overall health.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPeople are thinking about their health\u2026 they may be more engaged with their healthcare providers, they may be making behavioral changes,\u201d she said. \u201cIf there is something to [the connection between preconception periodontitis and birth outcomes], it could be a really beneficial time period.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gum health may be one of the last things on people\u2019s minds when they are actively trying to become pregnant, but there\u2019s a well-known association between periodontitis during pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes. Now, Julia Bond (SPH&#8217;24) is trying to learn more about whether that association extends to gum health before pregnancy.&nbsp; In 2022, Bond [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7185,"featured_media":233949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"dental health","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[2209,517,509,506,2158],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3519,3530,3531,3540],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/233211"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7185"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233211"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/233211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233983,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/233211\/revisions\/233983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233211"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=233211"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=233211"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=233211"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=233211"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=233211"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=233211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}