Bacteria and heart disease

Genetics, sedentary lifestyles, and unhealthy eating all contribute to atherosclerosis and heart disease. But scientists recently investigated the role of another surprising culprit—lipid-producing bacteria living in the mouth.

“For the past twenty years, I’ve been looking at lipids produced by bacteria associated with disease,” said Frank Nichols from the University of Connecticut, senior author of a recent study on bacteria and atherosclerosis published in the Journal of Lipid Research.

Nichols studies the microbiome looking for ways that oral and intestinal bacteria impact human health. Previous work had connected bacteria with atherosclerosis, so Nichols and his team decided to explore the biological mechanism of bacterial involvement in heart disease.

https://www.biotechniques.com/microbiology-virology/bacteria-that-cause-heart-disease/?fbclid=IwAR2wl3Srlw8aHX0vs-wd5aZnWWBBuSapmbBwgwrmIEXJLsGqDqIUV0HA7IE

Gum disease

If you’re worried you might have gum disease, there’s good reason for that. Gum disease affects nearly half of the U.S. adult population. That’s just under 65 million people! It’s one of the most common reasons people see the dentist.

So, are you at risk?

Gum disease (known as periodontal disease) has serious consequences for your dental health. It’s a chronic condition that can proceed quickly in different people. In the worst cases, it results in teeth that are infected and loose and need to be removed.

We know that bleeding gums is closely connected to how we brush and floss. And most people that I see in the dental practice don’t brush and floss enough. But removing plaque is one part of the story. Gum disease is a sign of many other problems throughout the body. If you’re suspicious you have gum disease, then these five signs may tell you it’s time to see the dentist.

1) Bleeding Gums

Gums should not bleed when you brush and floss. As a general rule, if you aren’t a routine flosser, bacteria buildup below the gums may cause your gums to bleed each time you brush. This can also spread and cause bleeding when you brush your gums. If the problem persists, the bleeding usually worsens.

Gum swelling, red gums, or sore gums may also accompany bleeding. Tooth sensitivity may occur as well and may be due to gum recession from the infected, bleeding gums. It's common to ask if you should stop flossing when your gums are bleeding. The problem is that if you don’t floss, the plaque that causes gingivitis will destroy the fibers that attach your gum tissue to your teeth. This plaque has bacteria that cause the inflammation in your gums.

With gums that bleed, there is much more to consider than just the pain or discomfort associated with the bleeding itself. Even though that is enough for most people to be concerned with, there are more problems that can take place after bleeding has begun if it is related to gum disease.

When your blood is delivering immune cells to exit your tissue, it makes sense that this may make way for other things to enter the bloodstream. If this is the case, harmful bacteria that are formed in the mouth can gain access to your bloodstream and cause a number of problems.

These bacteria bond to platelets in the blood and cause clots, which can lead to heart attack or stroke. If this happens, then a whole host of potential health effects can occur. Gum disease has some serious conditions associated with it. There are strong links with heart attack and stroke. When you see bleeding gums it’s time to get your dental checkup.

Your dentist will perform an exam that is designed to measure the severity of your bleeding gums. There are some general stages of bleeding gums that you can be aware of:

• Bleeding after or during brushing: This is when you will spot red or dark spots on your brush or floss. Your goal here is to disturb plaque, so it shows you’re doing the right thing.
• Gums begin to bleed more frequently: Instead of bleeding just on brushing, you’re now finding blood when you eat or without any stimulation at all.
• Bleeding happens on its own, not just when brushing: Sometimes, gums will bleed with no stimulus at all. This is a sign that inflammation is progressing to more serious stages.
• Gums begin to darken from light pink to a deeper red: This shows that more immune-regulated cells are located in the vessels. Gingivitis progresses as the immune response worsens. It signals processes that eat away at the gum tissue. Light, red blood is a sign there is oxygen present. Darker gums show lack of oxygen which is related to types of bacteria that thrive in an oxygen-free environment.

2) Gum Recession or Gum 'Pocketing'

Do your teeth look like they are getting longer? Teeth that appear "long" may be due to fact that the gums that surround them are receding away. Gum recession is a sign that gum disease is progressing.

When this happens, the depth of the collar of gum tissue around your teeth increases. In later stage gum disease, these pockets become too deep. The problem is that it then becomes difficult to remove the food and debris by brushing and flossing. This causes the pockets to become progressively deeper and the gum disease to worsen.

Unfortunately, to most, gum recession is considered to be a normal part of aging. You may have heard the expression "long in the tooth" to describe getting older. This refers to how the gum line tends to recede and expose more of the surface of our teeth. But there really is nothing "normal" about gum recession, and for most of us, it can actually be prevented. So, unless you're inclined to keep things as they are, and embrace gum recession as the well-paid price of wisdom, we can help.

Gum recession and pockets are not the same:

• Gum recession is the loss of gum tissue from around the tooth, exposing the root. Measurements are taken along the outer surface of the tooth to gauge how much gum has recessed or migrated over time. Measurements vary per person in the sense that a 4mm reading might be fine in one person but may not be for another. By taking a measurement and keeping track of its progression, we are able to determine different recommendations for taking care of your teeth and get a specialist involved if needed.
• Gum Pockets are the space between the gums and teeth. Dentists measure gum pockets by “probing” or “charting” to determine the general periodontal or gum health. A probe is placed down in between the tooth and the gums to determine where the attachment of gum starts. This is known as the bottom of the pocket. Hygienists and dentists take six measurements for every tooth to evaluate the health or presence of gum disease. By keeping a record of this year after year we hope to maintain a healthy periodontium and prevent periodontal disease and tooth loss. A normal or healthy range is between 1mm and 3mm, anything higher is indicative of infection and gum disease.

3) Tooth Sensitivity

Gum recession or pocketing can lead to tooth sensitivity. In these cases, sensitivity can be a sign of gum disease. Chronically inflamed gum tissue is exposing the root surface of the tooth. This exposed root makes the tooth more susceptible to decay, abfraction (wear in the root surface), tooth sensitivity, and potential tooth loss.

Tooth sensitivity occurs when consuming things like cold or hot beverages. If your symptoms are worsening, it’s time to see your dentist to see if they may be related to gum disease.

4) High Blood Sugar

If your blood sugar is high, you may have or be at risk of type 2 diabetes. The link between gum disease and type 2 diabetes is two-directional. People with type 2 diabetes have a higher risk of gum disease that progresses faster. That’s why it’s important for your dentist to know whether you have type 2 diabetes or not.

Signs of high blood sugar include:

• Increased thirst
• Headaches
• Mind fog or trouble concentrating
• Blurred or impaired vision
• Frequent urination
• Fatigue or loss of energy (weak, tired feeling)
• Unexplained weight loss

If you experience any of these conditions, you should see your general practitioner to test your blood sugar.

However, if you see your dentist and have been diagnosed with gum disease, you should also test your blood sugar. The conditions are closely connected to general inflammation in the body.

Some General Steps to Controlling Your Gum Disease

Visit your dentist for a professional dental exam and cleaning. In order for gum disease to settle, you will need to brush and floss.

Try to tie flossing and brushing to meal times or a time that is convenient for your schedule. Floss, then brush your teeth and tongue: (1) when you first wake up, (2) when you first return home from school or work (don’t come out of the bathroom until you do), and (3) before bed.

Once your oral hygiene is in order, you can assess if the signs of gum disease are improving or not. The objective is to disturb the plaque and bacteria preventing it from sitting too long.

If you do this, advanced calculus (tartar) will never be able to attach to your teeth. Many people say that they think twice a day is enough. Well, what happens if you miss one of those two times? The plaque living in bacteriawill then begin to start to grow on the tooth surface in the next eight hours.

OK, if you brush at night, why do you still have to brush in the morning? This is why you should. You are cleaning, not sterilizing your mouth. There are still living organisms in there. Your body is working while you are sleeping, digesting food, growing fingernails, etc. Bacteria performs many processes and plaque forms.

It’s not hard to imagine why your gums become infected and bleed now, is it (especially if you do this day in and day out)? But remember that your oral hygiene is one part of gum disease. Bleeding gums and inflammation that occurs in the mouth likely happens elsewhere in the body as well.

Gum disease can be a sign of the general health of your body. See it as a dashboard for other issues in your mouth, gut, immune system, and heart.

https://www.verywellhealth.com/signs-of-gum-disease-4129574

Mouth bacteria found in stroke patients' brains. What does it mean?

Bacteria commonly seen in the mouth has been found in the brains of people who have had a stroke, a new study shows.

The Finnish research group behind the new findings has been studying a possible association between bacterial infections and cardiovascular disease for more than 10 years. Their study, published Thursday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, looked for signs of bacteria in blood clots removed from 75 patients who were treated for an ischemic stroke at Tampere University Hospital in Finland between 2013 and 2017.

Ischemic stroke is caused by a blockage in a blood vessel in the brain. It accounts for about 87% of all strokes.

The study found that 84% of the participants, or 63 of them, had bacterial DNA in their blood clot. Among them, 59 had a strain of streptococci commonly found in the mouth that can cause infections if they get into the bloodstream.

The work is "the first to show common presence of (this) bacterial DNA in ischemic stroke patients," said Olli Patrakka, the study's lead author.

The bacteria involved, called viridans streptococci, are believed to cause endocarditis, an infection of the lining, valves or muscles of the heart.

Patrakka, a graduate student in the Department of Forensic Medicine at Tampere University, said his colleagues in 2013 found the same strain of streptococci in blood clots removed from patients who had a heart attack. Additional studies found the same bacteria in patients who had a ruptured brain aneurysm or a blood clot in their leg.

"Our results suggest that bacteria might have a role in the (development) of serious complications related to atherosclerosis" – the buildup of plaque in the arteries, Patrakka said.

Studies have identified high blood pressure, high cholesterol, physical inactivity, diabetes, smoking and obesity as risk factors for heart disease. In 2012, a committee of the American Heart Association convened an expert panel to review the evidence on oral health and cardiovascular disease and concluded there was not enough evidence to show gum disease caused by bacteria was a direct cause of heart disease or that treating the gum disease would prevent heart disease.

Dr. Peter B. Lockhart, research professor in the Department of Oral Medicine at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, was lead author of the AHA scientific statement. Although the new study clearly found oral bacteria in the brain, he said the significance of the finding is open to question.

Bacteria is present in the mouth, and it's not uncommon for it to enter the bloodstream, Lockhart said, whether or not a person is healthy or has periodontal disease.

"We now know that bacteria exist throughout the body, including in the blood," which was previously thought to be sterile. "Finding evidence of bacteria in blood clots doesn't mean they have a role in the disease process," he said.

But Patrakka said his research suggests regular dental checkups might help reduce the risk of heart disease.

Bacterial plaque buildup on the teeth can cause periodontal disease, an inflammation of the tissues around the teeth. About 47% of adults ages 30 and older have some form of periodontal disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We believe that future studies will strengthen the view that regular dental care has a more important role than previously thought in the health of people," Patrakka said.

But for now, Lockhart expects doctors will stick to the clear-cut risks.

"If you are a cardiologist," he said, "you are going to focus your time with patients talking about smoking, diet, exercise and other well-documented contributors to cardiovascular disease."

https://www.heart.org/en/news/2019/05/23/mouth-bacteria-found-in-stroke-patients-brains-what-does-it-mean

Nutrition and oral health

Choosing the right foods in your diet is an important aspect of having healthy teeth and good oral hygiene. Establishing good nutritional habits in kids and teenagers can be especially beneficial for good eating patterns and food choices throughout their lives.

How Nutrition Affects Oral Health

The foods that you eat come in contact with the germs and bacteria that live in the mouth. If you don’t brush, plaque will accumulate on the teeth. Plague thrives on the starches and sugars that are found in a lot of foods. When plaque combines with the sugars and starches, an acid is produced that attacks enamel on the teeth, and eventually, causes decay. According to the American Dental Association, the acid attacks the teeth for 20 minutes or more.

Choosing a Healthy Diet

Choosing a healthy diet may sound easy, however, fruits, milk, cereals, bread and some vegetables contain sugars and/or starches. Carbonated sodas, sweet fruit drinks, and sugary snack foods should be limited.

You don’t have to avoid these foods, just keep in mind that you should eat a balanced diet, brush your teeth twice a day and floss daily.

Healthy Tips

• Drink plenty of water
• Eat a variety of healthy foods from the five major food groups
• Cut down on snacking in between meals
• Limit snacks and drinks that are high in sugar
• Brush twice a day
• Floss Daily
• Visit your dentist for regular check-ups

Summary

While eating healthy foods and avoiding snacks and drinks that are high in sugar are good ways to prevent cavities, a good dental regime is essential in maintaining healthy teeth and gums. Plaque can be removed by brushing and flossing thoroughly and your dentist can detect any signs of early decay. If you have a severe sweet tooth like me, try starting out by replacing one snack a day with healthy choices.

https://www.verywellhealth.com/nutrition-and-good-oral-health-1059117

Is Antiseptic Mouthwash Hurting Your Heart?

Many people use antiseptic mouthwash nightly to quickly refresh and clean their mouth after brushing their teeth. But did you know this daily habit could be harming your body more than helping?

According to a recent study in Free Radical Biology and Medicinejournal, antiseptic mouthwashes can actually increase blood pressure, heart attack and stroke risks if used daily.

Chlorhexidine, a powerful antiseptic and disinfectant, is used in many mouthwashes, and may increase blood pressure up to 3.5 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) which significantly raises your heart attack risk. Sure, it also reduces plaque and kills off most germs in your mouth, but it does not distinguish between “bad bugs” and “good bugs.” We actually need these good bugs in our digestive tract, as they are essential to human nutrition, averting and reducing many different conditions.

This “friendly flora” helps create nitrite, which is needed for the healthy dilation of blood vessels. When the friendly flora is killed off, the risk of coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke and a variety of other health issues increases.

Study participants held a nitrite-rich solution in their mouths for 5 minutes. Those who had used a chlorhexidine-based antibacterial mouthwash seven days before the test showed nitrite production in the mouth to fall by over 90 percent, and blood nitrite to fall by 25 percent.

Rather than using an antiseptic mouthwash, I suggest freshening your breath with a natural herbal mouthwash. Start thinking of the bigger picture: your entire body. Start eating a diet that includes herbs and spices such as cilantro, spearmint, tarragon, eucalyptus, rosemary and cardamom; fermented, live culture foods such as plain kefir and yogurt; crunchy, fiber-rich fruits and vegetables such as apples, carrots and celery; fruits high in vitamin C such as berries, citrus fruits and melons.

You can also use warm water and salt for mouthwash (sometimes simple is the best solution). Bad bacteria cannot thrive in a neutral pH and this mixture keeps the pH of the mouth healthy. You can add a drop of essential oils to make it taste better — I recommend wintergreen or peppermint flavor.

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-13576/is-antiseptic-mouthwash-hurting-your-heart.html

How can we maintain good oral health?

Interesting read

Poor Oral Health Effects : Dental Hygiene

Here is a list of diseases that might be caused due to poor oral health effects that is bound to make you take better care of your teeth:

• Diabetes

If you have some periodontal disease or have been experiencing loss of teeth, then it is highly likely that you might be suffering from Diabetes. High blood glucose level provides an ideal condition for bacteria to thrive in the mouth and grow on gums. Fortunately, if you are able to control one, you can manage the other. So to an extent the impact of it can be controlled.

• Infertility

Studies reveal that men with periodontal disease are 7 times more likely to experience erectile dysfunction than men who take care of their dental health. A Research done by the European society revealed that women, who do not maintain a good oral hygiene, take longer time to conceive. If suffering from gum related diseases, then it might take more than 7 months to conceive compared to the peers who don’t suffer from anything.

• Heart Disease

Gum and heart disease often go hand in hand. Individuals suffering from periodontal disease are twice as likely to suffer from a stroke or heart disease compared to a normal person due to the bacteria. These bacteria have the ability to clogs the arteries, thus building enough pressure to cause a severe heart attack.

• Respiratory problems

Gum disease may increase your risk of getting respiratory infections, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pneumonia. Te periodontal bacteria can travel through the blood streams to the lungs and aggravate it thus causing a lot of breathing trouble.

• Osteoporosis

The common link between osteoporosis and periodontal disease is bone loss. Bone strength can easily be identified with an oral health check up and that can help indicate if you are suffering from early stage of osteoporosis. Treating Osteoporosis in such cases become crucial as it should be done before it can weaken the bones of the jaw of the person suffering with periodontal disease. Understanding the signs of this at an early stage is very helpful as the patient can start to receive treatment before suffering a painful and potentially debilitating fracture.

• Obesity

Obesity increases an individual’s susceptibility by modulating the immune and inflammatory systems in a manner that predisposes to inflammatory tissue destruction and leaves an individual at greater risk of periodontitis. More bleeding on probing, deeper periodontal pockets and more bone loss were noticed in individuals with higher indicators of obesity. Thus maintaining a normal body weight and eating healthy food ensures less threat to the body along with focusing on the poor oral health effects on our body. 

• Arthritis

Periodontitis has common link with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) due to its common pathogenesis and clinical presentation.  Patients with RA are eight times more likely to have periodontal disease compared to control patients. Both the conditions are characterized by chronic inflammation in the soft-tissue site adjacent to bone. Both the diseases together will require life time disease management. In an effort to best maintain oral health, RA patients are encouraged to brush and floss on a regular basis and visit a dentist twice a year.

Well, now that it is clear why good oral hygiene is important, educate self and family about these effects and spread the awareness. Practice good oral hygiene by brushing after every meal with fluoride toothpaste and floss your mouth regularly. Doing so will save your teeth from Poor Oral Health Effects , and life as well!

https://pharmeasy.in/blog/poor-oral-health-effects-dental-hygiene/

Teeth and heart health

Read slowly

Do not use antiseptic mouthwash

Here is why...

also it hurts your heart

Oral health

What is oral health?

• Oral health, also considered as Dental health includes the capability to speak, smile, smell, taste, touch, chew, swallow, and deliver facial expressions with confidence and excluding pain, discomfort, and disease of the craniofacial complex.
• Oral health is an important aspect of health, physical and mental well-being.
• However, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 half of the world’s population (3.58 billion people) are estimated to be affected by oral diseases.

What are the different oral health problems?

Oral health problems are classified into common and uncommon health problems. These problems are:

S.N.	Common Oral diseases	Uncommon Oral diseases
1.	Dental caries(tooth decay)	Oral herpes
2.	Periodontal/ gum disease	Dry mouth
3.	Oral cancers	Burning Mouth Syndrome
4.	Oral manifestation of HIV	Thrush
5.	Oro-dental trauma	Temporomandibular Joint Pain
6.	Cleft lip and palate
7.	Noma among the children under the age of 6 due to malnutrition.

Why is dental health care important?

• Dental health care plays a large role in maintaining our bodily functions. The main objective of dental health care is to prevent cavities, gum disease and keep mouth free from germs.
• Better dental health also prevents from various diseases like heart disease, strokes, diabetes, respiratory issues etc., as it prevents bacterial infection and inflammation of blood vessels.
• To provide confident visual appearance.

What are dental caries?

• Dental caries, simply a term for tooth decay or cavities caused due to microbial infections or multiple factors that deteriorates the tooth’s enamel and gums.
• Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 revealed that dental caries (tooth decay) in permanent teeth is the most prevalent condition among world population.

How does it (dental caries) happen?

There are numerous theories for dental caries or cavities. Some of them are:

• Acidogenic theory (Millers chemico-parasitic theory)

  • This theory is widely accepted and it states that dental decay occurs through chemico-parasitic process with the involvement of two stages:

Stage 1: Decalcification of enamel, which leads in its total destruction

Stage 2: Decalcification of dentine with dissolution of the softened residue.

• • Acid affecting dissolution comes from fermentation of starch and sugar blocked in the holding centers of the teeth.

• Proteolytic theory

  • This theory claims that lytic enzymes are responsible for dental caries when they attack the organic portion of the tooth.

• Proteolysis-chelation theory (Schatz’s theory)

  • This theory claims that breakdown of organic components i.e. keratin specifically due to microbial attack by keratinolytic microorganisms that results in decalcification of enamel at a neutral point is the reason for dental caries.
  • The above theories somehow explained the process of dental caries in a human body but unable to explain all the consequences of the disease. Despite of the failure, all three theories agreed on the following major reasons for dental caries:
    • Host
    • Flora
    • Substrate

Clinical classification of dental caries

Dental caries are classified on the following basis:

• Based on the location of single tooth:

– Pit and fissure carries

– Smooth surface carries

– Root caries/Senile carries

• Based on the promptness of the process:

– Acute/ Rampant carries

– Chronic caries

• Based on the new lesion attacking earlier unharmed surface or the lesion is arising around the margins of a repaired surface.

– Primary caries

– Secondary/Recurrent caries.

• Based on the pathway of dental caries

– Forward caries

– Backward caries

• Based on the involvement of the tooth surfaces

– Simple caries

– Compound caries

– Complex caries

Major causes of dental health problems

According to the Institute of Medical Science & Research Centre, the major causes of dental problems are:

Insufficient Ptyalin:

Ptyalin is responsible for the breakdown of starch into sugar with the help of tooth preserving systems in our body. Hence, the broken down starch gets dissolved in the saliva and washed away but lack of tooth preventing systems, the starch gets locked in around the teeth and the harmful bacteria feeds on the trapped starch , releasing acids that destroy enamel and leads to tooth decay.

Saliva’s alkalinity:

The alkaline buffers produce in the saliva works as the next line of protection to neutralize the enamel troubling acids formed on the teeth.Salivas alkaline components are composed of calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium and in lack of or short supply of the components hinders  the saliva’s buffering capacity and tooth decay occurs in a meteoric phase.

Insufficient Saliva:

When the production of saliva itself is insufficient in the body, which could be the reasons such as diets that are poor in consumption of fruits, vegetables and liquids, and high on cereals; inadequate vitamin A or low thyroid levels cause a dry mouth i.e. insufficient saliva and accumulation of harmful bacteria resulting tooth decay.

Food habits:

Starchy, refined carbohydrates foods are harmful to the teeth as candy. Similarly carbonated beverages and high intake of sugary items results in poor oral health.

Precautions for better oral/dental hygiene:

The advance tips for good oral/dental hygiene are as follows:

• Staying hydrated in order to prevent dry mouth so that the harmful bacteria are washed away.
• Avoiding carbonated drinks and sugary items.
• Visiting dentist for cleaning and checkup for at least one or two times a year.
• Replacement of normal toothbrush with interdental brushes every three to four months.
• Brushing teeth twice a day in order to prevent bad breath and removal of bacteria.
• Use of floss and tongue cleaner

Measures for better dental hygiene

The measures for better dental hygiene would be

• Existing oral hygiene measures used in respect with regular professional care.
• Use of inter-dental brushes and wooden sticks.
• Chewing sugar free gums as a salivary stimulant.
• Active role-play by the parents, school and the media for children, workplace, and social environments regarding dental hygiene.
• Mechanical and chemotherapeutic approaches to oral hygiene that target to transform the oral micorflora resulting in upliftment of health periodontal and dental tissues.
• Reducing smoking and tobacco use.
• Consumption of low sugar foods.
• Intake of more fruits and vegetables as it may have a protective role against harmful microorganisms

https://www.publichealthnotes.com/oral-health-and-dental-caries/