Poor toothbrushing could increase risk of heart attack
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- Published: Tuesday, 24 June 2014 07:37
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New research indicates that failing to brush teeth properly could leave people at risk of a heart attack. Scientists have found that the bacteria that cause gum disease can spread in the blood stream to the heart and aorta. The presence of the bacteria at these sites also saw mice suffer an increase in cholesterol and inflammation at those sites, the main risk factors in heart disease.
The researchers behind the study claim their findings could help produce new ways to diagnose and treat heart disease. Irina Velsko, a graduate student at the University of Florida's College of Medicine who presented the findings of the new study at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, said: "We report evidence that introduction of oral bacteria into the bloodstream in mice increased risk factors for atherosclerotic heart disease. Our hope is that the American Heart Association will acknowledge causal links between oral disease and increased heart disease. That will change how physicians diagnose and treat heart disease patients,"
Previous studies have shown links between gum disease and heart disease, biut it was thought this could be simply a sign of an unhealthy lifestyle and a high sugar diet. In the latest study, however, researchers infected mice with four specific bacteria – Porphyromonas gingivalis, Treponema denticola, Tannerella forsythia, Fusobacterium nucleatum – that cause gum disease and tracked their spread.
The research is part of a larger study on the effects of gum disease on overall health being conducted in the laboratory of Kesavalu Lakshmyya in the University of Florida's Department of Periodontology. Doctor Kesavalu said: "In Western medicine there is a disconnect between oral health and general health in the rest of the body; Dentistry is a separate field of study from Medicine. The mouth is the gateway to the body and our data provides one more piece of a growing body of research that points to direct connections between oral health and systemic health."
Cardiologist Alexandra Lucas, of the University of Florida College of Medicine who is a co-investigator in the research, said: "Our intent is to increase physician awareness of links between oral bacterial infection and heart disease. Understanding the importance of treating gum disease in patients with heart disease will lead to future studies and recommendations for careful attention to oral health in order to protect patients against heart disease,"
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