Postmenopause and Periodontal Disease

A recent study in the Journal of Periodontology says that in an 11.7 year follow up, 57.5 percent of women lost at least one tooth after menopause.

Bone loss is to blame!

The American Academy of Periodontology’s press release on this study says “Estrogen deficiency after menopause and consequent loss of bone mineral density have been shown to be associated with increased rate of tooth loss. These relationships may be explained by increased severity of periodontal disease in estrogen deficiency.”

Click here to learn about estrogen deficiency

Estrogen and Sun Damaged Skin

Researchers at the University of Michigan Department of Dermatology are currently recruiting subjects to participate in a study to test Estrogen’s effect on the skin. From the study abstract: “The purpose of this study is to investigate the way by which estrogen improves the appearance of sun damaged human skin. Accumulating evidence suggests that estrogen, taken by post menopausal women, may cause skin to look younger as a consequence of reduced wrinkles. Collagen is the most abundant protein in human skin and gives skin its strength and shape. Recent data indicate that short-term topical estrogen (17-beta estradiol) treatment increases collagen production in sun damaged skin. This study will compare the visual and microscopic effects from topical 17-beta estradiol (E2) when applied to the skin for a short-term duration. It is anticipated that the new knowledge from this study will enable development of new ways to improve the function of aged skin.”

More information

What Effects Does Estrogen Have On The Skin?

Researchers have found that “Estrogen loss at menopause has a profound influence on skin.” Writing in the medical journal Climacteric, study authors noted, “Estrogen treatment in postmenopausal women has been repeatedly shown to increase collagen content, dermal thickness and elasticity, and data on the effect of estrogen on skin water content are also promising.” Brincat MP, Baron YM, Galea R. Estrogens and the skin. Climacteric. 2005 Jun;8(2):110-23. Abstract

Estrogen Selected Research

Estrogen and Women’s Heart Disease
Grodstein F, Stampfer MJ. Estrogen for women at varying risk of coronary disease. Maturitas 1998;30:19-26.

Study: Researchers cited that estrogen was beneficial for heart disease risk. “However, few studies have assessed the impact of estrogen use among women with a distinctly higher cardiovascular risk.”

The researchers stated: “Analysis of the effect of estrogen within different risk factor categories in the 16-year follow up of the Nurses’ Health Study confirms that although relevant risk estimates are highly similar, the magnitude of the protective effect of estrogen is more pronounced among women with high baseline risk of disease.”

Estrogen, Depression, and Blood Pressure

Canada SA, Hofkamp M, Gall EP, et al. Estrogen replacement therapy, subsyndromal depression, and orthostatic blood pressure regulation. Behav Med. 2003;29:101-106.

Study: From the abstract: “Although estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) alleviates depressed moods in postmenopausal women, it is not known whether ERT is equally effective in reducing affective and somatic depressive complaints. One of the authors’ goals in this study was to examine possible differences between women receiving and not receiving ERT.”

The researchers stated: “The authors studied a group of postmenopausal women. Somatic symptoms in the ERT group were significantly lower than in the Non-ERT group. Affective scores were only marginally lower in the ERT group…In response to orthostatic challenge, the change in systolic blood pressure was significantly smaller in the ERT group. Apparently ERT is associated with more effective blood pressure regulation.”

Breast Cancer and Estrogen Replacement Therapy
Researchers writing in the August 6, 2005 edition of the British Medical Journal say maybe the risk of developing breast cancer from estrogen replacement therapy is not as great as everyone thought.

The researchers noted that estrogen therapy accounted for eight additional cases out of 10,000 women.

In 2002, headlines cited that researchers discovered that estrogen therapy could double the risk for getting breast cancer.Read abstract

Estrogen and Physical Appearance
Women With Higher Levels of Estrogen Have Prettier Faces
Researchers at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland announced that women who had higher amounts of estrogen in their urine were found to be more attractive than women who had lesser amounts.

What Effects Does Estrogen Have On The Skin?
Researchers have found that “Estrogen loss at menopause has a profound influence on skin.” Writing in the medical journal Climacteric, study authors noted, “Estrogen treatment in postmenopausal women has been repeatedly shown to increase collagen content, dermal thickness and elasticity, and data on the effect of estrogen on skin water content are also promising.”

Hormone Replacement Therapy and Possible Cardiovascular Benefits in Women
Researchers writing in the medical journal Climacteric say that “Women who receive 2-3 years of HRT after menopause do not have increased all-cause mortality, and results of the present study suggest relative cardiovascular benefits compared to those who had not used hormones.” Read more

Estrogen and Sun Damaged Skin
Researchers at the University of Michigan Department of Dermatology are currently recruiting subjects to participate in a study to test Estrogen’s effect on the skin.

Risk of stroke and hormone replacement therapy
Researchers writing in the medical journal Maturitas say that there is no significant association between hormone therapy and risk of total stroke in women during 10.5 years follow-up.

Postmenopause and periodontal disease
A recent study in the Journal of Periodontology says that in an 11.7 year follow up, 57.5 percent of women lost at least one tooth after menopause.

Estrogen

There is a great deal of fear and confusion when it comes to menopause and hormone supplementation. First, the term Hormone Replacement Therapy or HRT can conjure up the image of a cancer, stroke, and heart disease causing cocktail of synthetic hormones.

Next there is the “alternative,” Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy (NHRT). There is no Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy. Hormones for use in humans need to be synthesized from something. While many use the term, it is the sometimes favorite of internet sites selling “hormones,” and thus an easy target for critics who still favor the use of horse hormones and point to the “NHRT” websites as those making unsupported claims and being medically dangerous.

Sometimes, but incorrectly added to the latter group are the aptly and descriptively named “Bio-Identical Hormones.” Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) is not “natural” hormones and should never be referred to as that. Their sources are natural, being derived from plant sources, but, they must be chemically altered to exactly match the hormones produced in the body.

This is where the “natural” confusion comes in. Bio-identical Hormones are engineered to exactly match the natural hormones present in the body, but they themselves are not “natural” but indeed, bio-identical.

I would like to point out here that NOT every woman coming in with peri-menospausal, menopausal or post-menopausal complaints is put on hormone therapy at our clinic and there are no studies that clearly show that bio-identical hormones are any safer than synthetic hormones.

Sometimes the desired results a women wants can be achieved by quitting smoking or drinking, altering a diet to avoid foods that could aggravate symptoms, such as coffee, sugars, and foods loaded with chemicals, getting more exercise, reducing stress, reducing exposure to caustic elements and more.

There are options to Hormone Replacement Therapy and these can and should be discussed with a physician knowledgeable in understanding all the options available to the peri-menospausal and menopausal woman. Just because Grandma went through menopause naturally, doesn’t mean she was the better for it!

Hormone replacement, peri-menopause and menopause
For over four decades doctors freely prescribed synthetic estrogen replacement to women in the throes of menopause to alleviate the myriad of symptoms associated with the “Change of Life.” It was an easy thing to do. A women would come in with “hot flashes,” “mood swings,” and “fatigue,” among other complaints and the doctor would simply give them estrogen. Why not? The women who took estrogen seemed to be more youthful, enjoy life more, and “had control of their bodies.”

The problem became supplying the demand for estrogen. To which “Estrogen Farms,” were set up to capture the urine of pregnant mares (where the name Premarin comes from (Pre=Pregnant, Mar=Mare, In=Urine) to glean the estrogen from it.

Synthetic horse-urine estrogen replacement was now the vogue and over 10,000,000 women were “in style.” Physicians felt comfortable putting women on this estrogen, since many studies proclaimed the vast benefits of estrogen replacement therapy. In fact, once on horse-estrogen, many women refused and still refuse to give it up!

Happy with horse estrogen

After menopause, estrogen levels in a woman’s body declines.

Estrogen Replacement Therapy (ERT) alleviated the familiar symptoms of menopause for many women.
With this decline often comes the familiar symptoms of:
1. Vaginal dryness, painful intercourse
2. Vaginal mucosal atrophy
3. Hot flashes
4. Night sweats
5. Fatigue
6. Mood swings and memory problems
7. Fluid retention
8. Sleep problems
9. Decreased libido
10. Involuntary loss of urine (stress incontinence)
11. More frequent urinary tract infections

It seemed like an idyllic world. Women wanted estrogen, the doctors were eager to comply, and the pharmaceutical industry was happy to produce.

Then on July 12, 2002, the world of synthetic estrogen replacement abruptly collapsed and panic filled women across the world. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that Hormone Replacement Therapy was too dangerous to research!

Estrogen Segments 1 2 3

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