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Brushing Your Teeth Could Prevent Cardiovascular Disease

© Neal Rolfe Chamberlain

I always knew telling my kids that brushing their teeth and visiting the dentist twice a year would help prevent tooth decay and preserve their smile. It wasn't until this month that it appears more likely that good dental care could also prevent a variety of cardiovascular illnesses (cardio= heart; heart attacks, vascular= blood vessels; atherosclerosis, strokes). Researchers reported in the journal, Circulation, that there is a direct association between those that have an infection of the gums called periodontal disease and cardiovascular disease.

In their study they measured the thickness of the interior membranes that line a blood vessel (intima-media thickness or IMT) in the neck (carotid artery) and then took some dental plaque from 7 areas on peoples' teeth from Northern Manhattan, New York. All 657 of these subjects were 55 years old or older. The IMT of the carotid artery has been shown to be a good predictor of cardiovascular disease. The thicker the IMT the higher the likelihood a person will develop cardiovascular disease. The dental plague was used to identify the common bacterial causes of periodontal disease.

Periodontal disease is a chronic inflammatory process that occurs in about 14% of the adult population in the United States. Periodontal disease is the most common cause of tooth loss in adults in the United States. Bacteria if not removed by frequent brushing and flossing will produce a film (dental plaque) on the surfaces of the teeth. Certain bacteria like Porphyromonas gingivalis, Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, Tannerella forsythensis and Treponema denticola originating from dental plague cause inflammation of the gingiva (gums) eventually leading to periodontal pockets (pockets around the teeth) between the gingiva and the tooth roots. These pockets promote the growth of these bacteria and subsequent damage of the cells that cover the gingiva followed by destruction of the collagen that is in the periodontal ligament and the bone that forms the attachment between the jaw and the tooth root. In severe cases the damage to the periodontal ligament and the tooth root can result in loss of the teeth.

A long time ago people thought the bacteria in infected gingiva would get into the bloodstream and cause other diseases. This theory fell out of favor in the 1940's however recent studies have made scientists start looking at this theory again. The study in Circulation was able to show that if a person had those periodontal disease-causing bacteria in their dental plague they also were much more likely to have thicker IMT in their carotid arteries.

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