Inflammation is a common feature of both peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and periodontitis. Some studies have evaluated the association between PAD and periodontitis. However, there is still no specialized meta-analysis that has quantitatively assessed the strength of the association. Thus, we conducted this meta-analysis to critically assess the strength of the association between PAD and periodontitis. PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched for observational studies of the association between periodontitis and PAD in February 2018. Risk ratios (RRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) from included studies were pooled to evaluate the strength of the association between periodontitis and PAD. Weighted mean differences (WMDs) and their 95% CIs were pooled to compare the difference in periodontal-related parameters between PAD and non-PAD patients. Seven studies including a total of 4307 participants were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled analysis showed that there was a significant difference in the risk of periodontitis between PAD patients and non-PAD participants (RR = 1.70, 95% CI = 1.25–2.29, P = 0.01). There was also a significant difference in number of missing teeth between PAD patients and non-PAD participants (WMD = 3.75, 95% CI = 1.31–6.19, P = 0.003). No significant difference was found in clinical attachment loss between PAD patients and non-PAD participants (WMD = − 0.05, 95% CI = − 0.03–0.19, P = 0.686). In conclusion, the results of this meta-analysis revealed a significant relationship between periodontitis and PAD. Moreover, our study indicated that PAD patients had more missing teeth than control subjects did. Further high-quality and well-designed studies with specific inclusion and exclusion criteria are required to strengthen the conclusions of this study.

Oral anticoagulation therapy is widely used to reduce the risks of thromboembolism. However, the therapy increases the risk of hemorrhage during the surgical procedures. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the bleeding risk of patients continuing or discontinuing oral anticoagulant therapy while undergoing dental extractions. Six electronic databases, including PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library, Web of Science, China Biology Medicine disc (CBM), and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), were searched in March, 2016. Relevant articles were screened by two independent reviewers under our inclusion criteria. Quality was evaluated using the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool. Meta-analyses were conducted with fixed and random effects models as appropriate. Six studies (with a total of 591 patients) were included in our meta-analysis. Our results showed that there was no significant difference in the bleeding risk between patients continuing or discontinuing oral anticoagulant therapy while undergoing dental extractions (risk ratio, 1.31; 95 % CI, 0.79, 2.14; P > 0.05). There was also no significant difference in bleeding risk 1 day (risk ratio, 0.91; 95 % CI, 0.35, 2.37; P > 0.05) and 7 days (risk ratio, 1.47; 95 % CI, 0.83, 2.59; P > 0.05) after the dental extraction. Under current studies and evidence, it appears that patients continuing oral anticoagulant therapy do not have an increased risk of bleeding after dental extractions compared to patients who discontinue oral anticoagulant therapy.