Researchers found depressed patients are twice as likely to have less-than-optimal outcomes from periodontal treatment over one year compared to those without depression, according to a study in the April Journal of Periodontology.
John Elter, lead author of the study and a dentist and epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Dentistry, believes that patient attitude can play a major role in treatment success and that people who are depressed might view a course of periodontal treatment as an "overwhelming ordeal and might be more likely to not comply with all treatment recommendations."
People who are depressed also tend to continue to smoke, linked to poor response to periodontal therapy. There are also questions about the negative effect of depression on the immune system and wound healing, he said.