Dr. Jonathan Richter DDS, FAGD
There have been many studies, some even done right here on Long Island, that link periodontal disease and heart disease. These studies often conclude that people that have gum disease are more likely also to have poor heart health, including heart attacks.
Why does this happen? Experts believe that oral bacteria can escape into the bloodstream and injure major organs, including the heart. Your body’s reaction to bacteria and germs is an inflammatory response; that response engulfs the bacteria but leaves behind elevated inflammatory cytokines that can travel to major organs, including your heart. Thus periodontal disease, identified by inflammation, may increase inflammation throughout the body, which is an underlying problem in many diseases, not just heart disease.
In 2009, the American Academy of Periodontology and The American Journal of Cardiology published a report about the relationship between heart disease and gum disease. At this point, cardiologists should be asking about any gum disease problems, and dentists are also advised to ask their patients about their heart health. Rather than leave this in your physician’s hands, as patients we MUST be proactive. Good dental hygiene, twice yearly prevention dental visits, choosing foods that fuel your body and steering clear of sugars are all things that you the patient can do to prevent inflammatory-based cardiac disease.
Source: Dr. Jonathan Richter, DDS, FAGD, of Cardiodontal. Offices in Great Neck and Manhattan. For more information, call 516-282-0310 or visit Cardiodontal.com.
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