Brush your teeth often, for a longer time and cleaning the interdental space it could be the way to take care of many more aspects of your health than you think. Including what is related to cardiovascular or neurodegenerative conditions.
No doubt oral hygiene protects you from cavities, tartar and bad breath. Also oral diseases such as gingivitis. This supposes a Superficial inflammation of the gums that, if left untreated, can progress to periodontitis. Here the inflammation has spread to ligaments and bones which can lead to tooth loss. Specialists have long suspected that the effects of this inflammation could spread to other areas of the body such as the brain or the heart,
“These illnesses [periodontitis] They are produced by an imbalance between the patient’s bacteria and the immune response, which causes an excessive amount of pathogenic bacteria to exist. These can llenter the bloodstream and produce bacteremia, and generate an excessive inflammatory response with systemic effects”, he qualifies in The country Elena Figuero, professor of dentistry at the Complutense University of Madrid,
While the causes are still not entirely clear, poor oral health has been debated as a possible cause of cardiovascular disease for many years. It is estimated that patients with some type of gum disease have a 25-50% increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Studies have linked periodontal disease—especially when it is due to infection by a bacterium called porphyromonas gingivalis—and rheumatoid arthritis. Other evidence has found a link between this same bacterium and the risk of pancreatic cancer.
A paper, presented at the American Stroke Association 2023 international conference, looked at the potential link between oral health and brain health among approximately 40,000 stroke-free adults from the UK Biobank between 2014 and 2021. It concluded that the people genetically prone to caries or missing teeth had a higher burden of silent cerebrovascular disease.
“Chronic inflammatory foci, even if they are of low intensity, such as periodontal disease, can produce alterations that make the blood-brain barrier more permeable, which protects the brain from dangerous elements,” Juan Carlos Leza, CIBERSAM group coordinator ( Network Biomedical Health Center of the Carlos III Health Institute for Mental Health).
In the words of the specialist, a continuous, chronic, long-term inflammation “the risk of problems such as stroke may be increased”adds Leza. “A causal relationship between having intestinal dysbiosis or a disorder of the mouth and having schizophrenia or suffering a stroke has not been proven, but it has been seen that people who have these problems have more inflammation, also in the mouth,” he adds. .
Both scientists work on the relationship between periodontitis and depression. His previous research has already pointed to a possible association between diseases with altered oral microbiota, such as periodontitis, and anxietymood and disorders related to trauma and stress
Periodontitis can also induce or exacerbate other chronic systemic inflammatory diseases, such as atherosclerosis and diabetes, and can cause adverse effects in pregnancy.
Does periodontitis influence the development of Alzheimer’s disease?
The oral cavity is home to the second most diverse microbial community in the body, with more than 700 bacterial species colonizing soft and hard tissues.
It is believed that these periodontal pathogens and the immunoinflammatory response in periodontitis could affect brain function, especially in the most vulnerable elderly, and contribute to the onset and progression of neurodegenerative disorders.
Some mechanisms that could explain how periodontitis can affect these systems include: passage of bacteria into the bloodstream, invasion of the brain through the nerve trigeminal One study described an association between inflammatory cytokine levels in Alzheimer’s patients and periodontitis, suggesting that this Oral involvement may be associated with the onset, progression, and worsening of AD.
Habits to take care of the health of your teeth and gums like a professional from home
Specifically, the investigation indicates that the main person responsible is the Fusobacterium nucleatum, a common pathogen that overgrows in periodontitis and has also been linked to several systemic diseases. A 2022 essay published in frontiers showed that periodontitis induced by F. nucleatum caused exacerbation of Alzheimer’s symptoms in mice, including increased cognitive decline, beta-amyloid accumulation, and Tau protein phosphorylation in the brain.
In 2017 a retrospective cohort study in Taiwan found that people with a 10-year or more history of chronic periodontitis were 70% more likely to develop dementia in relation to those who did not have oral disease.
However, the investigation could not determine if the results were influenced by people with undiagnosed early Alzheimer’s disease that could have impacted on poor oral hygiene. That is, someone with undiagnosed dementia could take less care of their teeth, which would lead to gum disease.
Although much remains to be investigated in this regard, there is nothing wrong with brushing your teeth 3 times a day as the experts advise and much you can gain from confirming all these associations.
