We are thrilled to report that Chaitanya Joshi passed his viva on Wednesday, 8th September. The examiner panel was highly complimentary of Chaitanya, impressed with both the quality of his work and the breadth of skills he acquired during his time with us.
Chaitanya thanked his supervisory board - Dr Karolin Hijazi, Professor Dana Dawson and Dr George Cherukara for providing him with the opportunity and for supporting him through a fantastic four years. Chaitanya also thanked all the nursing staff members of the Institute of Dentistry and the Cardiology department at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for helping him with patient recruitment. Chaitanya thoroughly enjoyed his viva and we thank external examiners Professor Mark Petrie, Institute of Cardiovascular & Medical Sciences, University of Glasgow, Professor Francis Hughes, Emeritus Professor of Periodontology, Kings College London, and internal examiner Dr Nicola Mutch, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen.
From bleeding gums to coronary arteries!
Dr Joshi’s PhD project explored periodontitis as a risk factor of myocardial infarction and whether severity of periodontitis relates to the increased severity of the underlying coronary disease burden. The study found that individuals with periodontitis are 5.5 times more likely to suffer from myocardial infarction than periodontally healthy patients, after adjusting the effect of other known risk factors for coronary artery disease. The study also demonstrated that clinical markers of periodontitis, subgingival Porphyromonas gingivalis load and expression of genes encoding virulence factors of periodontal bacterial species are significant predictors of the extent of acute myocardial injury as well as of the severity of underlying coronary artery plaque burden.
Chaitanya’s findings show the role of periodontitis as an additional risk factor of myocardial infarction and highlight the importance of surveillance of periodontal health for patients at risk of coronary artery disease.