Dentist explains why bad oral hygiene can increase your chance of getting deadly heart disease
It turns out there's a lot our oral health can tell us as one dentist has explained why bad oral hygiene can increase your chance of getting heart disease.
Heart and circulatory diseases cause a quarter of all deaths in the UK, according to the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
That means there's 'more than 170,000 deaths each year' in Britain because of it.
"Coronary heart disease (CHD; also known as ischaemic heart disease) is the most common type of heart disease," the BHF explains.
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"It is the most common cause of heart attack and was the single biggest killer of both and men and women worldwide in 2019."
After understanding the dangers, Dr Victoria Sampson, an award-winning functional dentist, has revealed the link between gum disease and heart disease.
Gum disease is where the gums become red, swollen, sore and bleed, according to the NHS, which notes that it's very common, but should be checked over by a dentist.
Taking to Steven Bartlett's Diary Of A CEO podcast, Dr Sampson warned: "So, the research has shown that if you have gum disease you are at a 20 percent higher chance of high blood pressure.
"But also they are now saying that up to 30 to 40 percent of cardiac issues in hospital can be traced back to an oral bacteria causing problems in the heart valve.
"So the reason for this connection, so yes inflammation, but also going back to that third mechanism I told you which was about the vasoconstriction, so the blood vessels constricting and dilating.
"So these toxic enzymes which are being released by the bacteria, they travel through the blood and they basically stop the blood vessels from being able to widen and lots of blood to travel to the heart and also to constrict and that also is one of the biggest connections with heart disease."
Throughout the podcast she talks about the 'oral microbiome', which is a field of study about microorganisms, predominantly bacteria, found within the mouth of humans.
"We now understand that more than 90 percent of diseases can be traced back to an imbalanced microbiome.
"If we zone into just the oral microbiome it's got connections with infertility, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's, rheumatoid arthritis and the list goes on, erectile dysfunction.
"And what's also very interesting, going back to your question about has there been a new interest in this?
"In the last few years we've actually been able to show that there is a strong connection and causation between the oral microbiome and general diseases.
"Whereas prior to maybe five years ago there was a lot of kind of, 'is this correlation, is it just that, okay, there's the same risk factors with gum disease and with heart disease', for example, smoking, and now we're actually seeing that.
"No, it's not just correlation there is strong causation between the two."
Meanwhile, the BHF says: "Gum disease can lead to tooth loss and has also been linked to an increased risk of developing heart or blood vessel problems. But we still don’t really understand how gum disease and cardiovascular disease are connected."
Topics: Health
Anish Vij