Dr. Mittle, a board certified periodontist, discusses the connection between the health of your gums and systemic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, GERD, acid reflux, liver disease, etc.
Don’t Let Periodontal Disease Go Untreated!
The inflammatory process that begins in the mouth can travel to other parts of the body.
There are strong connections associated between periodontal disease and some of the systemic infections that are out there, such as heart disease, diabetes, liver problems, kidney problems, gird and acid reflux and even premature births. Everyone always asks, “How is that possible? I thought the mouth is separate from the body.”
The answer is no, not anymore. When we have inflammation of the mouth because of plague and bacteria, your body responds to it by sending out certain chemical mediators in the mouth.
Remember, it’s the same blood that circulates from your gum tissue to the rest of your body. So those inflammatory markers — we’ll just call it that — goes out now to the heart and to the liver and the prostaglandins and the CRPs and what you normally hear about either on TV or newspapers.
Remember, it’s all generated from your gum tissue, from the plaque and bacteria, and then your blood. Remember, the same blood from your gum tissue goes to your heart and it takes all those infections, those inflammatory markers and even some of the bacteria. It’s been shown on microscopes the fact that it actually gets to your heart and that can cause, again, heart disease. That’s what heart disease is, inflammatory disease.
Diabetes is an inflammatory disease. In fact, if you even treat your periodontal condition it has been shown, even in medical journals, your diabetes actually decreases. Your AIC, the number that everyone always talks about with diabetes has been shown to go down.
When you have gum inflammation, some of the markers out there I was talking about, prostaglandins, well that’s the same thing that is caused when you want to induce a baby during birth, when they go through induction. Well, that’s the same chemical that they inject in you and that’s the same chemical that is produced in your gum tissue.
So if you’re pregnant and you have severe periodontal disease or sever gum inflammation, it can actually spread throughout your body. It goes into your body and it’s the same thing for the prostaglandins that can actually induce and cause premature births. In fact, now the endocrinologists and even the OBs actually recommend getting cleanings while you’re pregnant because it’s very important. They’re recognizing the fact that we want to eliminate all these inflammatory markers and try to get a healthy baby.
If you have any questions regarding periodontal disease and the connections to systemic diseases, please call us at the number below for a complimentary consultation and I’ll be happy to answer all of your questions.
