Periodontal Disease

Hello all, welcome again to my blog-

I wanted to discuss briefly the link between gum disease (periodontal disease) and heart disease. The bacteria involved in gum disease can be described as a chronic infection with inflammation. This of course is a load on your immune system, which is up to the task but over time this is a risk to your cardiovascular health. Both the number of bacteria and the type of bacteria are a concern. Strep bacteria arising from the gums have been found in the plaques of coronary artery disease. To the extent that we can reduce chronic infection and inflammation in our bodies we will be doing a good thing. This is the hottest topic in medicine right now. Thorough and frequent teeth cleaning is a way to reduce the risk of heart attack and other inflammation based diseases.