Clinical takeaway
- A Vanderbilt/JADA study of 37 Egyptian mummies (2000 BCE) found a co-occurrence of dental decay, bone loss, and vascular calcification across both sexes -- reinforcing that the periodontitis–atherosclerosis connection is a long-standing, age-related inflammatory process, not a product of modern diet or lifestyle. Use this finding in your patient conversations: Gum disease and heart disease have been traveling together for 4,000 years.
The links between gum disease and atherosclerosis appear not to be a modern health problem. Many 4,000-year-old male and female Egyptian mummies appeared to have dental decay and calcified arteries, according to a February 20 article published on Vanderbilt Health News.
Using a database of computed tomography scans of 14 female mummies and 23 male mummies ranging in age from 19 to 60, researchers used imaging to search for decayed teeth and periapical lucencies. They also used the images to capture measurements from the cementoenamel junction to the alveolar crest. Regression analyses measured whether vascular disease was present.
Figure 1: Computed tomographic scans of Hatiay, a mummy included in the original Horus work, with evidence of both carotid calcifications (blue arrow) and poor dental health (red arrows).Images and captions courtesy of Van Schaik et al. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
“Historical remains provide a unique opportunity to study human biology apart from modern interventions. Evaluation of the biology of human aging and disease processes at time points 4,000 years apart can shed light on the most fundamental aspects of those mechanisms,” Dr. Katherine Van Schaik, PhD, MA, an assistant professor of radiology and radiological sciences at Vanderbilt Health and the corresponding author of the study that was published in the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA, January 30, 2026) said in the story.
Among the 37 mummies Van Schaik and her colleagues analyzed, the men were less likely than the women to have calcified vascular beds. That finding was a surprise, as in the 21st century, it is the opposite -- periodontitis and atherosclerosis are more pronounced in men than women.
Figure 2: Periapical lucencies in the maxilla (purple arrows) (A) and mandible (blue arrows) (B) and caries (green arrows) (C) as viewed in the axial, sagittal, and coronal planes via computed tomography of three male mummies.
Researchers weren’t sure what accounts for the reversal, though they suggest that biological and social factors -- and their interactions -- likely influenced the switch.
“Atherosclerosis and dental disease both appear to be inflammatory processes linked with chronological age, in people who live today and in people who lived 4,000 years ago in Egypt,” Van Schaik said.
There is growing consensus supporting a link between gum health and cardiovascular health. Inflamed gum tissue is linked to systemic inflammation and infections that can worsen atherosclerosis, or thickened, hardened arteries resulting from a build-up of fat, cholesterol, and calcium deposits.
