The Link Between Oral Health and Heart Disease: What You Need to Know

Did you know that there’s more risk involved in dental and oral hygiene neglect than mere halitosis? You could have a heart attack or worse! It’s true. On top of risking losing your teeth or getting a yellow, starchy smile, you could end up with something life-threatening.

After all, poor oral health in general and gum disease (from gingivitis to periodontitis) in particular can increase your risk of heart disease and stroke.

Poor Oral Health and Gum Disease

Take care of your teeth to take care of your heart. It’s because oral health can lead to the buildup of bacteria inside the mouth, which can then enter the bloodstream and travel to the heart, potentially causing infection and inflammation.

In due time, the unchecked oral bacterial population will swell and affect your gum health, leading to gum disease. From there, the bacteria can enter the bloodstream through bleeding gums (a symptom of gingivitis caused by the same bacteria).

Oral Wellness is Overall Wellness

More and more people in the dentistry community are supporting the concept of maintaining oral health to ensure holistic health.

After all, approximately 80 percent of U.S. citizens are living with gum or periodontal disease, with many of them remaining undiagnosed for good measure.

The issue with gum disease is that your teeth will feel fine until the condition becomes severe enough to warrant dentist attention. Meanwhile, physician visits rarely focus on oral health maintenance anyway.

This issue might slip under the radar, resulting in the patient “suddenly” developing heart issues.

Why Are These Things Related?

There’s currently scientific evidence suggesting links between heart diseases and oral health. It’s not just a theory with no backing.

According to recent studies, oral health can provide doctors with various warning signs for a wide range of conditions and issues, including those involving your heart.

There’s also a study claiming if you have moderate or advanced gum disease (periodontitis), your risk is greater for heart disease compared to individuals with healthy gums.

How Oral Health Affects Cardiovascular Health

It works like this. You neglect practicing due diligence when it comes to your oral hygiene, resulting in plaque and tartar buildup.

From there, this could cause a gum infection that ranges from mild reversible gingivitis to severe jaw-altering periodontal disease.

All the while, your mouth serves as a Petri dish of bacteria and germs. It can’t be helped—the mouth always has some measure of bacterial population.

Overpopulated plaque bacteria then infect your gums to make them bleed, which allows these germs to travel from the mouth to the heart via the bloodstream, resulting in infection and inflammation of your heart.

Indeed, the link between heart disease and oral health is the bacterium, plural bacteria.

Bacteria and other germs inside the mouth can spread to other parts of your body through the bloodstream via your germ-infected bleeding gums or if you have any other mouth wounds.

Bacteria is the Main Culprit

Plaque (that starchy film full of bacteria) is the main culprit behind gum infection, which also makes gums bleed. The germs inside them can then enter the bloodstream and attach themselves to the heart, resulting in heart inflammation.

The more damaged or compromised your heart is, the more susceptible it is to oral bacterial infection from the bloodstream.

Bacteria in the heart can even cause a serious infection known as infective endocarditis, which occurs whenever bacteria enter the bloodstream and attach to the heart lining, often where there’s pre-existing damage.

Indeed, when the bacteria reach your heart, they can attach to any existing damaged area of the organ, causing inflammation. A host of illnesses can then occur from this infection of the heart’s inner lining.

Symptoms can range from sudden, severe acute endocarditis to a slower, less severe subacute (between acute and chronic) form of the condition.

The Bloodstream is the Key to This Dilemma

The link between oral health and heart disease is simple—it originates from bacterial spread. If you were to neglect your oral health by not brushing twice daily, flossing once daily, and using mouthwash occasionally, this can cause the spread of plaque.

Gingivitis-causing germs are likely to travel to the heart from the bloodstream because bleeding gums are one of the symptoms present in even the mildest of gingivitis.

If and when the bacteria reach your heart, they will seek and attach themselves to any previous wound or injury in its lining, leading to inflammation, stroke, and other complications.

You should avoid letting your gum disease worsen at all with daily dental hygiene because of potential cardiovascular complications down the line.