LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Periodontitis

Heart Attack Statistics: Dental Invader Found in Heart Plaques

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Heart attack statistics stem from multiple factors; the famous one cause : one cure model that dominates medicine just doesn’t fit here.

It would be wonderful, though, if this were true.  That means that treating everyone with a statin to lower his or her cholesterol would actually work.  Or lowering everyone’s high blood pressure with a beta blocker, ACE-inhibitor or calcium channel blocker would yield amazing outcomes.  Or the identification of a single genetic factor that caused heart disease would yield the biggest blockbuster drug ever.

Alas, heart disease is multifactorial and requires a comprehensive lifestyle approach to avoid or manage it (you can read my recommendations by downloading my free ebook here).

But this does not mean that there are not certain factors that play major roles in the development of sickened blood vessels that ultimately lead to a heart disease or fatal myocardial infarction.

And it’s not cholesterol.

Chronic inflammation is arguably one of the key factors that contribute to heart disease.  Chronic inflammation comes from many sources, including poor dietary choices, stress and sedentary lifestyles.  Chronic infections are on the list.

Key among these is the oral cavity and the gut.  Which brings us to this particular study.

Researchers looked for the presence of bacteria within the plaques (thrombi) from patients who suffered a heart attack and compared the levels of certain bacteria to those found floating around in the bloodstream.  Here’s what they found:

  1. The total amount of bacterial DNA in the thrombi was 16 times higher than in the blood.
  2. Viridans streptococci (a bacteria typically associated with dental infections), was found in 78.2% of thrombi.
  3. Bacteria associated with periodontal disease were found in 34.7% of the plaques.
  4. Bacteria-like structures were detected by in a subgroup of 30 patients with a heart attack that were examined by a specialized CAT scan, those with a periapical abscesses were 13.2 TIMES more likely to have viridans streptococci DNA found in his or her plaque (Tweet this).

The bottom line is that, although our country’s disturbing heart attack statistics are the result of many different things going wrong in the body, it is very clear that good oral health needs to play a role in a heart-healthy lifestyle.

We all know that this includes brushing, flossing and regular dental visits, but how many of you out there use a tongue scraper as well?

Periodontal Disease Prevention Does NOT Begin In The Mouth

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I’m not saying that you should cancel your next dental checkup, but we need to start viewing oral health from the context of a whole body approach.

Lest the dentists out there remove themselves from my email list, the relationship goes both ways–good oral health is also required for good overall health.

So let’s start with the looking at some of the diseases have been associated with poor oral health:

  1. Heart disease tops the list. Any form of chronic inflammation (like periodontal disease) damages the heart. Period.
  2. Pre term birth (yes–chronic inflammation is not good here, either).
  3. Tooth loss increases pancreatic cancer risk 63%.

Here’s where the story gets scarier–in a recent blog article (that can be read by clicking here), I pointed out a study that found that an alarming percentage of the population (well over 50%) had signs of gingivitis.

Clearly we have an issue as it relates to oral health in this country. So where do we start to turn it around?

Regular dental care, daily brushing (I personally like my Sonicare), daily flossing and regular tongue scraping (I’m a big fan of tongue scraping–the best tongue scrapers can be found at BreathRx).

I do, however, have concerns over antibacterial mouthwashs. I think there is mounting research that killing off even the good bacteria in our mouth leads to problems like high blood pressure.

All of this brings us to this particular study.  Researchers looked across multiple studies to examine the association between prediabetes / metabolic syndrome and periodontitis. Overally, they found that, in those people who were prediabetic (and let’s face it–that’s well over half of you out there….), he or she was 209% more likely to also have periodontitis.

Wow–that’s a pretty strong association. And while the researchers were unclear about whether the prediabetes caused the dental problems or whether the dental problems contributed to prediabetes, it doesn’t really matter from a practical standpoint.  It most likely works both ways.

Overall, this means that good oral health has to include an anti-diabetic lifestyle.  My recommendations can be found by clicking here, or, better yet, sign up for the Rantings and get the full ebook for free by clicking here.

Do You Have Symptoms of Gingivitis? The Stats Are Surprising

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To be exact, the symptoms of gingivitis are not as serious as periodontitis. Which makes the findings in this study that much more disconcerting…

You may have read the title to this post, thought about the toothbrushing, xylitol gum chewing, flossing and tongue scraping you perform daily and answered with a resounding “YES!!”  Statistically, though, if you answered this way, you were probably wrong.

There is absolutely no question that your oral health is related to your overall health.  And the reverse is likely just as true–take care of your health and your teeth and gums will follow.  As a quick example, consider smokers.  Smokers are obviously missing the boat when it comes to good health.  On the oral health side, smokers generally have very poor oral health and specifically, gum health.

But just how many of us have periodontal disease here in the US?  The number may shock you.

In this particular report by the CDC published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the number of participants in the NHANES database from 2009-2010 with moderate to severe periodontitis were evaluated.  Here’s what they found:

  1. 45% of adults aged 45–64 years had moderate or severe periodontitis (Tweet this).
  2. Broken out into race in that age group, the results were worse for Hispanic (59%) and non-Hispanic black adults (60%) compared with non-Hispanic white adults (39%).
  3. Among adults aged 65–74 years, 58% had moderate or severe periodontitis.
  4. Again, in this age group, Hispanics had higher rates of periodontitis (74%) compared with non-Hispanic whites (53%).

Overall, these numbers are pretty darn scary.  Given the links between oral health and heart disease, this should be on the list of concerns for everyone.

So how do we take better care of our oral health?  Here are my recommendations:

  1. Of course, make sure you stay current with your regular dental checkups.
  2. Overall positive lifestyle choices are critically important (my general recommendations can be found by clicking here).
  3. Regular tooth brushing (I personally use the Phillips Sonicare).
  4. Using xylitol based gum several times per day.
  5. Use a tongue scraper several times per week, if not daily.

What do you do to take care of your oral health?