Your Dentist Can Keep Your Heart Healthy

Did you know there is a significant relationship between the health of your mouth and your heart? Your teeth and gums can give you powerful indicators of how healthy your heart is. Many people are unaware of their oral health because they don’t see a dentist regularly enough.

Periodontal disease is a bacterial infection of the gums that may lead to the loss of some or all teeth later in life. It is actually the most common cause of tooth loss in adults. Having a long term infection of your gums can eventually cause loss of bone in your jaw, therefore teeth can become loose, as there is nothing to hold them in place. Periodontal disease is strongly correlated with an increased risk of heart disease. People with the condition are more likely to have hardened arteries.

The leading causes of periodontal disease are poor oral hygiene, a nutrient deficient diet and a diet high in sugar or refined carbohydrate. These factors cause raised inflammation in the body and inflammation causes wear and tear. The chronic infection in the gums leads to chronically raised inflammation not only in the mouth, but also throughout the body. It has been known for some time that people with gum disease are more likely to die younger from a heart attack. The same bacteria growing on the gums has even been found in atherosclerotic plaques growing in the arteries of people with heart disease.

You may have gum disease and not even know it. That’s why it’s important to see your dentist regularly for a thorough check of your teeth and gums. It may buy you some time to save your teeth and also your heart.

Strategies to keep your gums healthy

• Eat lot of vegetables. Ideally you would eat two or three cups of chopped vegetables per day. Try to have as wide a variety of vegetables as you can; avoid eating the same few varieties each day. Cooked vegetables are fine but some of the vegetables you eat must be raw. Making your own raw vegetable juices is a tasty way to increase your vegetable intake. Fruit is important too but it is higher in sugar, therefore limit fruit to two servings per day.
• Get rid of sugar from your diet and limit your intake of refined carbohydrate. These foods encourage bacterial and fungal overgrowth in the mouth and plaque formation. These foods also increase inflammation and insulin resistance, both of which fuel heart disease. BactoClear capsules are a brilliant natural disinfectant, helping to kill bad bugs in the body without harmful side effects like antibiotics.

• Green tea can protect your gums against infection. Research published in the Journal of Peridontology has found that the antioxidants present in green tea have an anti-inflammatory effect on the gums. Green tea contains 30 to 40 percent water soluble antioxidants (polyphenols), while black tea contains between three and ten percent. This particular study recruited 940 Japanese men aged between 49 and 59. Each cup of green tea consumed had a significantly beneficial effect on the health of the gums.

• Vitamin D helps to strengthen your immune system, reducing the risk of infections. Most people are not getting enough vitamin D because they don’t obtain sufficient sunshine. It’s best to ask your doctor for a vitamin D blood test. Vitamin D also strengthens bones and helps reduce bone loss in the jaw.

• MSM helps to strengthen the gums. MSM stands for Methyl Sulfonyl Methane. It is a natural form of sulfur, which the body uses to produce connective tissue. The gums have a high requirement for sufhur.  Ideally MSM is taken in powder form combined with vitamin C.

Healthy gums reflect a healthy body.

Reference

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.

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