Good Dental Hygiene Can Prevent Some Types Of Heart Disease
If all this time you thought that keeping fit
, watching your diet and keeping an eye on blood pressure and cholesterol was enough for preventing heart disease, new research shows it is not. You have to brush and floss daily in order to control the level of cavity and gum disease causing bacteria in your mouth. If not, with any occasion that causes a wound or bleeding in the mouth, bacteria can enter into your blood stream. Once in the blood stream, certain strains of the bacteria can infect the heart causing a condition called endocarditis. The message is this: Daily brushing and flossing not only prevents leads to healthy teeth and gums; it can also keep your heart healthy.
At the 2010 autumn meeting of the Society for General Microbiology, Professor Howard Jenkinson of the University of Bristol explained how the heart infection occurs.
Streptococcus mutans, a common type of mouth bacteria that causes plaque buildup, cavities and gum disease, makes the gums vulnerable to bleeding. Any time there is bleedingsuch as during a dental procedure or even vigorous after vigorous brushing or flossingthe mouth bacteria can enter the blood stream. Most such bacteria then become destroyed by the bodys immune system which uses white blood cells to attach such invaders. S. mutans, however, uses a surface protein called PadA as a weapon and force platelets in the blood to bind together around the bacteria forming clots. The resulting clump of platelets provides a cover to the bacteria from both the immune system and from antibiotics that may be used in treatment. The resulting blood clots and growths that develop on the heart valves and in the membrane that line the cavities of the heart, leads to inflammation causing a heart disease called endocarditis. This condition can block the blood supply to both the heart and the brain.
The Bristol team collaborated with scientists at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) on the research. Now they are using a blood flow model, developed by Dr Steve Kerrigan at the RCSI, to investigate how the bacteria induced clotting can be blocked. Their discoveries could lead to new treatments for heart disease.
In another study, microbiologists at the University of Rochester Medical Center and the Center for Oral Biology found that only certain rare strains of the bacteria are able to infect heart tissue. Those strains of S. mutans have a collagen-binding protein CNM which gives them the ability to invade heart cells. The researchers examined more than three dozen strains of bacteria found in the human mouth, and found only five strains carry the CNM protein. The only good news is that CNM protein is not found in the most common types of mouth bacteria; but is present in rarer types.
Since you do not know whether your mouth is home to which type, it is always better to be safe than sorry. So adopting a good dental routine, with daily brushing and flossing and visiting a dentist at least twice a year would help you lead a healthier life.
Your dentist would be able to explain more about how heart disease and good oral health are related. More information about the mouth-body connection can be found on FreeDentistFinder.com articles archive. You can easily
find a dentist through FreeDentistFinder.com.
by: Dentist Finder
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