Periodontal disease in seropositive rheumatoid arthritis: scoping review of the epidemiological evidence

The link between periodontal disease (PD) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been hypothesized to lie in the anti-cyclic citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) molecules present in seropositive RA. This review aimed to discuss how RA and specifically ACPA-positive RA link to PD, and appraise the epidemiological evidence on the relationship between ACPA-positive RA and PD. Articles were searched following the PRISMA guideline across the MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus and Cochrane Library databases. A total of 21 articles met the inclusion criteria of reporting the epidemiological data on the different ACPA status of the subjects with RA and PD (or periodontitis) parameters. A discrepancy is noted in the epidemiological evidence on the difference in the prevalence and severity of PD between ACPA-positive and ACPA-negative RA patients. Although the link between RA and PD is mostly discussed in terms of ACPA, reports on the different manifestations of PD between the two RA subsets remains inconclusive.