Women who take steps to head off osteoporosis in midlife also appear to reduce the chances they'll lose their teeth later on, recent research confirms.

Women who start taking hormone-replacement therapy, or HRT, at the start of menopause are much less likely to need dentures later.

Advertisement

The idea that osteoporosis could also cause bone loss in the jaw and subsequent tooth loss was proposed years ago, but some dentists denounced the theory at the time. A survey of women with an average age of 67 found that 47 percent of those who hadn't used HRT wore dentures, versus 27 percent of those who had been on hormone-replacement therapy.

The new research helps to repair the image of hormone-replacement therapy, which suffered a blow last year when a large Swedish study disproved the widely held belief that HRT reduces a woman's later risk of heart disease.

Doctors usually don't recommend HRT for women who have a family history of breast cancer, because the oestrogen given with HRT can increase the risk of cancer. Many women decide, however, that the small added risk of breast cancer is outweighed by the chance to prevent the crippling effects of osteoporosis, which is the one condition for which the scientific evidence solidly supports HRT.

 

Print this article

Rate this article Poor 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent

JOBS

Senior Secretary Gauteng - North/Sandton Infrastructure Resource Gauteng - Johannesburg Management Accountant R450,000-500,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - Johannesburg Financial Manager R350,000-400,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - Johannesburg Financial and Project Accountant R300,000-360,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - Johannesburg Financial Accountant R380,000-420,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - Johannesburg SSIS Business Intelligence Specialists (SSIS; SSAS) R350,000-500,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - North/Sandton Financial Accountant R350,000-450,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - South Find more jobs Register your CV Post a job