There’s a radio commercial that has been playing during Seattle Mariners games, for the Washington Dental Association (or some similar organization), encouraging people to include their dentist in their overall health plan. The commercial makes this claim:
“Studies show that people with poor oral health are at a higher risk for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.”
Does “poor oral health” actually contribute directly to these other maladies, or is this more a case of people who aren’t taking care of their teeth/mouth probably aren’t taking care of other aspects of their health and are thus more susceptible to other issues?
People with gum disease do have twice the rate of coronary artery disease. This difference persists even when the data is adjusted to correct for lowered rates of overall health care.
There are a few theories floating around as to why this should be. One is that a lot of gum disease causes more bacteremia, or bacteria in the blood stream. This is felt to be a possible accelerant of arterial plaque formation. Another theory states that the tissue inflammation caused by gum disease activates other inflammatory processes in the body which also accelerate plaque formation.
I also recall a few articles mentioning that PCR testing of arterial plaque showed oral flora and fauna, as well as CMV, EBV and a few other assorted “critters”. Hence, the great debate of inflammatory v non-inflammatory coronary artery disease. Fuel is added to the debate due to the fact that many statins are weak antibiotics.
As the debate rages on, look up typhoid fever on wikipedia and note the spider vein type rash on the infected individual, whose photograph is present on the page.
That is also present with other bacterial infections, even money, with dental fauna as well.
So, wanna live longer, or at least more comfortably? Get your choppers fixed!
