Body Watch : Hormone Therapy May Cut Tooth Loss

There’s yet another reason for post-menopausal women to consider estrogen replacement therapy: It may reduce tooth loss.

No small benefit, since 32% of U.S. women (and men) 65 to 69 don’t have their own teeth.

In a just-published study in the Journal of the American Dental Assn. of more than 42,000 post-menopausal women, researchers found that women on estrogen replacement therapy had a 24% decrease in tooth loss, no matter what their hormone dose. (Women on ERT had slightly better dental hygiene habits, but not different enough to account for the reduced risk.)

Women who had used hormones in the past were also less likely to experience tooth loss, whether they had been on therapy for a year or many years.

At least two other published studies have suggested that estrogen may be associated with a decreased risk of tooth loss. Some researchers have also observed that overall bone mineral density in post-menopausal women correlates with the number of their natural teeth.