Gum Disease can lead to Heart Disease

Doctors and scientists have known for a long time about the association between heart disease and gum diseases. According to the American Heart association there have been many studies that have strongly indicated the direct link between diseases such as periodontitis (that lay in the gums) and heart diseases such as coronary heart disease.

Gum disease has also been linked to a higher rate of stroke in some patients and has been a strong indicator as to the overall longevity of life that a person may experience. Many people are unaware of the direct link between gum disease and heart disease as it is not something that is well publicized. In the normal healthy human mouth there is always a strong presence of bacteria. However if there is an infection in your mouth, that infection or sore can provide a direct route for the bacteria in your mouth to directly enter the bloodstream and into the heart and other areas of the body including the brain.

People should be thinking of their mouths as not only a gateway to their stomachs but to their bloodstream as well. Bacteria have been shown to cause not only heart disease but clogged arteries, bacteria endocarditis, and strokes. Bacteria endocarditis is when bacteria enters the bloodstream and attached itself on damaged or infected heart tissue and valves. Bacteria endocarditis has been known to eventually damage or even destroy a heart valve leading to heart attack. Gum disease has been linked to heart disease when oral infections and periodontitis have lead to high levels of fibrinogen (which is a blood clothing factor), white blood cells and low levels of good (HDL) cholesterol in the blood.

View case studies of patients who strugled with gum disease and oral health.

Research has show that other oral and gum diseases such as pericoronitis (an infection around the third molar) missing teeth, dental caries and cavities and root remnants have contributed to heart disease. Among these diseases in the mouth, it was show in studies conducted by the American Heart Association that pericoronitis was the strongest predictor of heart disease.

It is typically felt by dental professionals and cardiologists that patients who are socially and economically disadvantaged are more likely to have heart diseases associated with gum diseases because of the lack of proper oral care and infrequency of visits to the dentist.

Oral Health | Gum Infections | Mouth Ulcers | Oral Hygienist