Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between periodontal health and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in a Korean population.Methods: The Community Periodontal Index (CPI) data of 7,264 subjects, aged over 25 years, who participated in the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was used to assess the periodontal status of the population. Severity of COPD in the subjects was classified according to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) definition.Results: Subjects with more severe COPD were more likely to have severe periodontal disease. After adjustment for gender, age, monthly income, education, economic activity, and occupation, the odds ratio of COPD was 1.18 (95% Confidence interval [CI], 0.63-2.21) for severe periodontal disease in the study sample. When stratified by smoking status, the odds ratio of current smokers was 0.92 (95% CI, 0.41-2.05) and that of non-smokers was 1.29 (95% CI, 0.64-2.59).Conclusions: Periodontal health was not significantly related to the severity of the COPD, even though smoking was a common risk factor. This is the first study examining the relationship between periodon-tal health and COPD in a Korean population. Studies that further investigate the causal relationship be-tween the two are recommended.

Keywords: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Periodontal diseases, Respiratory diseases