The Lethal Impact of Gum Disease on Heart Disease, Diabetes, and Arthritis

Gum disease is called Gingivitis. It is estimated that 75% of the American population over 35 has some form of gum disease. Even more serious, is that a major percentage of those people do not realize how serious gum disease is. To begin with, you will lose your teeth eventually to gum infection. What is worse, is that it is one of the reasons for ill health in many areas of the body.

The human mouth contains millions of bacteria, some are harmless and others are not. All of us carry staph and strep germs in our mouth. Our immune system is what keeps them in check. When we have a chronic gum infection, there are greater numbers of bacteria, staph and strep present. The immune system must work constantly to defeat the ongoing infection. Research is showing that this constant infection leads to inflammation in the body. Both the infection and inflammation have a serious impact on health.

Gum disease and The Heart: Many studies suggest that gum disease or gingivitis may increase the risk for heart disease, stroke, and cardiovascular disease.

How Does Gum Infection Impact Your Heart? The bacteria in the gum passes into the lymph and blood system where it is carried to various tissues and organs such as the heart. Lab researchers have found the same gum bacteria, clumped together in the plaque that lines the arteries to your heart. Scientists feel that the bacteria adhere to the fatty plague found in your arteries. This causes swelling and blockage. The lethal bacteria can also invade the heart tissue and valves causing a heart infection or heart attack.

Premature Birth: Women who are pregnant have a greater risk for gingivitis or gum disease. Women with gum disease and infections have 3 to 5 times more premature births than women with healthy gum. Scientists are not sure how gum disease causes premature births but the correlation is present.

Diabetes: Diabetics often have gum disease and mouth problems. Infections of any kind cause problems in stabilizing your blood sugar. When you have an infection in your body, your blood sugar may increase, and it may take more insulin to balance it.

Arthritis: There are certain forms of arthritis that are caused from infection in the body. The infection is passed through the blood and lymph system causing inflammation in various tissues. Back some years ago, I begin to have painful hips. I went to the doctor and had x-rays taken. They did not find the cause. At the same time, I was having teeth problems and jaw infections. When I was able to have the teeth pulled and my dental work done, the hip pain disappeared in a short time. Among the causes of arthritis is infection in the body.

Dental Work Can Be Dangerous: I have an older friend right now in critical condition. He went to the dentist to have work done. He already had a mouth infection. They did not put him on antibiotics before or after the work was done. The next day his face swelled, he began vomiting and having heart attack symptoms. He was rushed to emergency and nearly died. He was in the hospital for over a month because they could not stem the infection. He had to be fed through a tube in his stomach.This man was doing well before this dental work. After a month in critical care, he is still in serious condition. Often people feel sick and are sick after dental work.

How Can Dental Work Cause A Systemic Infection? When they pull teeth or clean your teeth, large amounts of bacteria are released into the bloodstream. Dental treatments reduce saliva flow, and disrupt the bacteria balance in the mouth. This influx of lethal bacteria can be dangerous if you have certain health conditions or have a compromised immune system.

Dental Work Increases The Risk For Endocarditis: If you have certain heart conditions and heart defects, you are at risk when undergoing dental work. Endocarditis is when the heart gets infected. The bacteria are carried into the heart by the blood supply and multiply there. In some heart defect conditions, the heart has rough surfaces where the bacteria cling and multiply.

Dental Procedures That Increase The Risk For Endocarditis: dental extractions; dental implants; root canals; anesthesia injections; teeth cleaning; gum surgery, scaling and digging;

Health Conditions That Are High Risk for Endocarditis: an artificial cardiac valve; health history of heart disease; bacterial Endocarditis; pulmonary shunts or conduits;

Health Conditions Causing Medium Risk: congenital heart problems; heart valve problems; rheumatic heart disease; Stenosis; Mitral valve prolapse; atrial septal defects; by-pass surgery; heart murmurs; cardiac pacemakers and implanted defibrillators.

How To Prevent Infections From Dental Work? It is recommended to take antibiotics both before and after surgery. If you don't believe in antibiotics, then take a high dose of oregano, garlic, or goldenseal for the same time period. You must take the herbal formula several times a day and at maximum strength. I would add to that several thousand milligrams of Vitamin C and an immune system booster containing mushrooms.

References:

www.parentheartwatch.org/LinkClick.aspx

http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/dental/DE00001/METHOD=print

http://nyp.org/061011.htm

http://www.perio.org/consumer/mbc.top2.htm

http://dentistry.about.com/od/issuesandemergencies/a/importantbrush.htm