Boulder General Dentistry | Dr. Birnbach, D.M.D.: Your Heart and your mouth

Your Heart and your mouth

What is the dirtiest, most disease ridden part of the human
body?

Nope. You are wrong. It isn't that.

It's your mouth.

Yuck.

And gums are what protects your mouth from getting inside
your body.

Gums are maybe the most important part of your body's
immune system.

If you brush and it bleeds, that is not a good sign.

If it hurts when you get your teeth cleaned, that is not a
good sign.

Gingivitis is the start of gum disease. It describes gums that
bleed or are inflamed.

Periodontitis is the advanced state of gum disease. When
gums deteriorate, bone underneath dissolves away. That
leaves the teeth's roots exposed to the dirty mouth and
that advances not just gum disease, but heart disease.

That's right. Many studies show that gum disease cause
bacteria to leak into the body and they latch onto the
heart, its valves, and the arteries feeding the heart
with blood.

So gum disease and heart disease are closely related.

What can you do about gum disease? Two things at
least.

One, is you can floss, brush, and use various good home care
practices.

Two, See your dentist and hygienist. A thorough cleaning involves
the dentist or hygienist going in below the gum line and
scraping away the accumulated film of bacteria that is
stuck to the teeth.

Sometimes, dentists are using lasers for deep scaling.

Sometimes, they use ultrasonic devices. We use
both.

Is it painful? Just a bit uncomfortable. The hygienist put on
a topical anesthetic, no needles.

Some folks will need to get numb for their procedures.

You may remember the old saying " the knee bone connected to the hip bone"

Your mouth ( gums and teeth) are connected to your heart.

Healthy mouth is necessary to have a healthy heart

posted by Mark J. Birnbach, DMD at 8:44 AM

Boulder General Dentistry | Dr. Birnbach, D.M.D.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Your Heart and your mouth