Diseases Indirectly Caused by Infected Gums
(Part 1)
Once bacteria travels from your mouth to other parts of your body through the bloodstream care of bleeding gums or mouth sores, it could reach the heart and inflame it and cause a host of complications.
- Inflammation: Inflammation is your body’s immune response to excess bacteria in your mouth. Gum infections cause blood vessels to swell and become susceptible to sores, pain, and bleeding, leading to cardiovascular complications.
- Endocarditis: In some cases, the oral bacteria can infect the heart’s inner lining or valves, causing a serious infection called endocarditis. You should not take this condition lightly because it’s potentially life-threatening.
- Stroke: It’s horrifying to imagine, but oral hygiene neglect can indirectly lead to stroke. Once the bacteria are in your bloodstream, they can cause inflammation to the arteries themselves, which raises your stroke risk.
In turn, a stroke or “brain attack” happens whenever a blockage (such as inflamed arteries) deters the supply of blood to parts of your brain or whenever a blood vessel in the brain bursts.
- Atherosclerosis: According to the American Heart Association, blood vessel inflammation can also lead to atherosclerosis or clogged arteries along with huge cholesterol consumption in your diet.
Your risk of getting a buildup of fats, cholesterol, and other substances in and on the arterial walls can increase significantly by having bad oral hygiene.
Therefore, you should reduce your risk of such cardiovascular illnesses by brushing your teeth twice daily—once after lunch and a second brushing after dinner, before you sleep. Also, floss every day. Make it all a habit!
Oral Health Risk Factors that Affect the Heart
Risk factors are actions, illnesses, or traits that can increase your likelihood of getting sick or injury. In this case, here are the oral-based risk factors linked to heart disease.
- Poor Oral Hygiene: Neglecting to brush and floss regularly and not getting regular dental check-ups can lead to gum disease, which in turn could cause heart issues via gingivitis bacteria traveling through the bloodstream.
- Gum Disease: Gingivitis or gum inflammation and periodontitis or advanced gum disease are major risk factors for heart conditions and stroke.
- Pre-existing Heart Damage: Neglecting oral hygiene can worsen the risk for additional heart conditions, particularly in individuals with pre-existing cardiovascular issues.
A damaged heart or a heart that has a lot of mileage to it is more likely to develop more conditions if you’re inconsistent with your oral hygiene regimen.
- Other Causes for Concern: Other heart risk factors include smoking, hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes. These conditions can increase the risk of gum and heart disease.
Who Is at Risk?
The people with the highest risk of heart disease caused by poor oral health are those with chronic (i.e., persistent and recurring) gum conditions such as gingivitis and periodontal disease.
They could have one or more gum disease symptoms that have gone undiagnosed and unmanaged.
As discussed above, the more severe your gum disease is, the more likely its germs can enter your bloodstream and attach themselves to blood vessels or the heart.
That’s right—cardiovascular disease can occur not only when the bacteria latch themselves to the heart. They can also induce it by latching onto blood vessels to inflame them.
Even if gum inflammation isn’t noticeable, you might still be at risk for gum disease care of inadequate oral hygiene. A dentist might be called for in such instances.
The last thing you want to happen is for the bacteria to migrate into the bloodstream to cause elevated C-reactive protein (the inflammation marker for blood vessels). This can exponentially increase your chances for heart disease and stroke.