Think flossing and brushing is helping to fight off heart disease and stroke? Think again.
An expert panel of dentists and cardiologists, writing in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, says there is no evidence that treating or preventing gum disease has any direct effect on heart health.
That's a big turnaround. For the past decade, the medical establishment has been telling people that cardiovascular disease can be caused by poor oral hygiene. Why the change?
"We set out to look at all of the science," study author Peter Lockhart, chair of oral medicine at the Carolinas Medical Center, tells Shots. After reviewing dozens of studies published over the last 20 years, the panel concluded that gum disease and heart disease do occur together - but despite conventional wisdom, one does not cause the other. Studies that appeared to show a link, the panel found, often failed to control for outside factors that contribute to both diseases.
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