“We never want to say that you have a heart attack just because you have gum disease,” says Dr. Low, spokesman for Philips, a brand with a large oral care catalog. “But what we found is that the chronic inflammatory responses that occur with gum disease are the same as other severe chronic inflammatory diseases, particularly cardiovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory disease, rheumatoid arthritis, recent data on Alzheimer’s.”

According to 2012 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 47 percent of adults aged 30 and over have some form of periodontal disease. Gum disease, which can cause severe gum and jawbone damage, costs Americans $ 54 billion in lost wages annually. Serious gum disease is the sixth most common disease in the world. Symptoms of gum disease, like swollen gums and painful chewing, are easy to miss or brush off, says Dr. Low. Therefore, it is imperative to have regular checkups as gum disease can lead to other problems in the body.

Untreated gum disease infections can cause blood sugar to rise, making diabetes difficult to treat. “I could imagine that there are patients who have difficulty controlling their diabetes and have not added two and two,” says Dr. Low. In addition, gum disease can make lung disease worse by increasing inflammation and transferring bacteria to damaged lungs. “When the bacteria are in your mouth and you breathe them in 24 hours a day, they get into your lungs,” he says. “We can show this connection with the COVID-19 scenario.” Research has shown that COVID-19 patients with oral health problems such as gum pain or bleeding gums died more often than those who didn’t.

“It was no surprise to us because when you are aware of COVID no one really dies from the virus, you die from the body’s reaction to the virus,” says Dr. Low. COVID-19 can trigger a cytokine storm in the body, in which the immune system overruns and floods your bloodstream with cytokines, which are inflammatory proteins that can kill tissues and damage organs. “And that usually destroys the lung material where it is not receptive to the absorption of oxygen. This is exactly how Perio works. Perio is not about bacteria. Perio is about a patient’s susceptibility to overreacting to the bacteria. “

Dr. Low shares this information so as not to scare you into the dentist’s chair. “We don’t want people to have to be motivated to visit us because they could die,” he says. However, if you are already dealing with or predisposed to other health problems, keeping an eye on oral health should be one of your priorities. “If you are already prone to a complicated pregnancy, if you already have high blood pressure, if you already have cardiovascular disease, if you already have a known cardiovascular disease, if you are diabetic and uncontrolled and You’re also genetically susceptible to perio, then you almost create a synergistic effect to make it worse. “

The most important thing you can do is go to a dentist for a check-up every six months and when you go to a dentist you should tell them your medical history. Although there is some collaboration between dentists and doctors (many cardiologists require dental approval before heart surgery), Dr. Low on another increase. “You are starting to see and I think COVID has started, more and more people are starting to talk about moving dental clinics to clinics, moving medical clinics to dental clinics.”

In addition, Dr. Low that keeping track of oral hygiene at home is important. “It would be extremely naive to believe that what we do in a dental office is enough. The bacteria will come back very quickly because the mouth is just a great receptacle for these bacteria to multiply, ”he says. Brush your teeth for two minutes twice a day, preferably with an electric toothbrush. “I don’t want to downplay our manual teeth brushing, but my goodness, you didn’t get up this morning and talked on a rotary or push-button phone?” And be sure to use dental floss. “Periodontitis is not due to the outside and inside of the teeth, but between the teeth.” Remember that good oral health affects well beyond your mouth, and that keeping track of things can help you live longer, happier lives.

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