Poor oral health linked to body pain and migraine in women, study finds

“This is the first study to investigate oral health, oral microbiota and pain commonly experienced in women with fibromyalgia,” senior author Dr Joanna Harnett, associate professor of complementary medicines at the University of Sydney School of Pharmacy, said in a press release. Fibromyalgia is a chronic rheumatological condition characterised by widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances and cognitive difficulties. Its global prevalence ranges between 2% and 5%. According to lead author Sharon Erdrich, a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Medicine and Health, fibromyalgia is often under-recognised or misdiagnosed in clinical settings.

In the study, the researchers examined associations between self-reported oral health, the oral microbiome and various pain presentations in 156 women from New Zealand. Participants’ oral health was assessed using the World Health Organization’s oral health survey and evaluated against reports of body pain, migraine and abdominal pain.

After analysing the data, the researchers found strong associations between oral health scores and pain and that several pain conditions were linked to specific oral microbes. Participants with the poorest oral health were 60% more likely to experience moderate to severe body pain and 49% more likely to report migraine than participants with better oral health. Lower oral health scores were also found to be a statistically significant predictor of frequent and chronic migraine.

Four oral microbial species—from the genera Dialister, Fusobacterium, Parvimonas and Solobacterium—were significantly associated with pain after adjusting for age, body mass index and dietary sugar intake. Additionally, a higher relative abundance of Gardnerella was linked to poorer oral health scores, while Lancefieldella and Mycoplasma salivarium were associated with migraine.

The findings underscore the potential importance of good oral health in reducing pain and enhancing overall well-being. They also point to a possible role of the oral microbiota in contributing to or worsening pain in women with central sensitisation disorders. The researchers encouraged further investigation of the existence of an oral microbiome–nervous system axis and its role in chronic pain conditions of unknown aetiology, including fibromyalgia.

The study, titled “An association between poor oral health, oral microbiota, and pain identified in New Zealand women with central sensitisation disorders: A prospective clinical study”, was published online on 9 April 2025 in Frontiers in Pain Research.