Say “Ahhh” to Avoid Heart Disease

By allowing your dentist to treat your gum disease, you are decreasing your chances for developing heart disease. As strange as it may sound, an infection in your gums can travel through your body to your heart. This is why it’s more important than ever to go for regular dental check-ups and ensure that your periodontal health is constantly managed.

The word periodontal means “around the tooth.” Periodontal disease is a chronic bacterial infection that affects the gums and bone supporting the teeth. Periodontal disease can affect one tooth or many teeth. It begins when the bacteria in plaque (the sticky, colorless film that constantly forms on your teeth) causes the gums to become inflamed. According to the American Academy of Periodontology, up to 30% of the population may be genetically susceptible to gum disease. Despite aggressive oral care habits, these people may be six times more likely to develop periodontal disease.

For the past decade, several studies have concluded that there is a strong link between periodontal disease and coronary heart disease. One result of periodontal disease is the loss of teeth. When the gums become so diseased, your teeth can wiggle out. This led researchers in Finland to investigate the associations between the number of missing teeth and diagnosed heart disease in 1,384 men aged 45 to 64 years.

The researchers discovered that those with a higher number of missing teeth from sustained oral infections–which is a direct result of periodontal disease–had a higher likelihood of heart disease.