Relationship between oral hygiene and heart

There are some reports which state that oral hygiene is somehow related to the heart and to heart disease.  Could this be true?  Could you really prevent heart disease by simply taking better care of your teeth and gums?  This sounds too good to be true, and you know what they say, if it’s too good to be true then it probably isn’t. 

The fact is there is as yet no clear and definitive evidence which proves that oral hygiene has a direct effect on the health of the heart.  There is also no evidence that it can prevent heart disease.  However, just like everything else in science, this could soon change.  A lot of researches are still being conducted about the relationship between oral hygiene and the heart and any one of them could potentially discover something that would prove this case.

Actually, the notion that oral hygiene can help prevent the development of heart disease came from a study that involved 657 test subjects without any known heart conditions.  The study found that the people who had higher levels of oral disease causing bacteria in the mouth also had higher chances of developing atherosclerosis.  Atherosclerosis is a condition which is also referred to as a hardening or clogging of the arteries.  This condition is developed when deposits of different substances such as fat begin to stick and build up along the walls of the arteries. If these deposits are left to build up long enough, there would be enough sticking on the arteries that they would actually clog the passageway and prevent the flow of blood.  If blood does not flow freely in the arteries, the body suffers a stroke.  Incidentally, the harmful deposits that stick to the arteries are called plaque – yes, just like the plaque found on your teeth.  Because of this, the idea of oral disease having an effect on the heart might have been further misinterpreted.

Most people might mistakenly think that the plaque that causes atherosclerosis is the same as the plaque that is found in the mouth and causes some oral diseases.  The simple fact is that they are not.  They are just referred to by the same name.  As mentioned earlier, the plaque found in arteries are made up of deposits of fat and other substances.  In contrast, the plaque found on teeth are residues of chewed up food, acid, and different bacteria.  There is no relation between these two kinds of plaque.

For now, there is just not enough evidence to seriously believe that taking better care of your oral hygiene can greatly improve your chances of preventing heart disease or other adverse heart conditions.  If you are at risk of heart disease, your best course of action would still be to eat a healthy diet, get regular exercise, and put yourself in the right weight.  Of course, getting taking better care of your gums and teeth would not hurt either.  It may not have been proven yet but it just might help.  At the very least, you wouldn’t have to worry about any unwarranted fillings or oral diseases.  Instead, you would have healthier gums, cleaner teeth, and a much brighter and cheerful smile.