SLO dentist asks: Healthy Teeth, Healthy Heart?

Dr. Amorteguy, a SLO dentist, has a personal interest in making sure her patients are both mouth and heart healthy. Recently, heart health and oral health have been linked. Find out how:

Paying attention to your dental hygiene and health -- especially your gums -- may pay you back with more than a gleaming, healthy smile and manageable dental bills. It may keep your heart healthy too. 

However, experts emphasize that the keyword is may. Cardiologists and periodontists, the dentists who treat gum disease, have long debated the link between dental health and heart disease. But the issue still isn't completely resolved, says Robert Bonow, MD, past president of the American Heart Association and chief of cardiology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. 

"It isn't clear whether gum disease actually has a direct link to heart disease," Bonow says. ''There are threads of evidence, but they’re not yet tied together. If it's true that people with poor oral health have more heart attacks, it doesn't mean the poor oral health leads to them. People with good oral hygiene may just be taking better care of themselves." In other words, people who floss and brush their teeth may also exercise regularly and follow other heart-healthy habits. 

Gum Disease and Heart Disease: How Could They Be Linked? 

Experts do agree that there are plausible reasons why dental health and heart health may be intertwined. For example, inflammation is a common problem in both diseases, Bonow says. Hardening of the arteries, or atherosclerosis, ''has a strong component of inflammation. Much of the progression of plaque [building up in the arteries] is actually an inflammatory process." 

Gum disease also has an inflammation component, says Sam Low, DDS, associate dean at the University of Florida College of Dentistry in Gainesville, and president of the American Academy of Periodontology. Gingivitis, the beginning stages of gum disease, occurs when gums become inflamed and bacteria overtake the mouth.

SLO dentist

To continue reading this article, Dr. Amorteguy your SLO dentist recommends going to WEb MD for the full version: http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/features/healthy-teeth-healthy-heart

Deborah Amorteguy DDS

1250 Peach Street
Suite F
San Luis Obispo 
California 93401

805-543-3016

Smile@DrAmorteguy.com

www.dramorteguy.com