On your 80th birthday, it’s estimated that your heart will have beaten 3.4 billion times. Clearly, your heart works very hard, so it’s important to keep it healthy with exercise, diet, stress management and not smoking. But there’s another way to lower your risk of heart problems that may surprise you: Take great care of your gums! And since this month is National Heart Month, it’s a great time to find out how periodontal disease (also called gum disease) affects your heart and how a dentist in Pasadena can help you stay healthy. Learn more below!
The Link Between Periodontal Disease and Your Heart
Your mouth is a “gateway” to the rest of your body, so it makes sense that oral health problems can impact other areas. Periodontal disease occurs when the gums become inflamed from bacteria (which is a main component of plaque and tartar). Symptoms include bleeding, swelling or tenderness, along with gum recession, chronic bad breath, loose teeth and pain when chewing.
Researchers are still trying to determine the exact link, but it’s thought that bacteria in the mouth “spread” to every part of the body, including the heart. Once there, the same bacteria can cause inflammation in the mouth also lead to inflammation in the arteries and encourage plaque to form.
How Can You Maintain or Improve Your Gums?
One of the most important things you can do for better gum health is to improve your oral hygiene with the following tips:
- Schedule regular checkups and cleanings – Seeing a dentist for checkups at least twice a year is important for multiple reasons. First, they’ll closely monitor your gums to find any problems early on, when treatment is most effective. They’ll also remove the plaque and tartar from under your gumline that you can’t remove at home, which goes a long way towards managing or preventing periodontal disease.
- Improve your oral hygiene routine at home – Another valuable reason to get regular checkups is getting personalized tips for your oral hygiene routine at home. A dentist or hygienist can demonstrate the best brushing and flossing technique to help you reduce plaque, tartar and bacteria before it can enter your bloodstream and travel to your heart.
- Use the right tools – Many people do better with electric toothbrushes, which are available at every price point. You may also consider an antiseptic mouthwash, oral irrigator, or floss picks to make things easier and more effective.
When you take care of your heart, your heart takes care of you. With these tips, you’ll not only improve your oral health but improve your overall well-being at the same time.
About the Author
Dr. Kimber Holmes has been a family dentist in Pasadena for nearly 20 years. In that time, she’s seen just how far the research has come on periodontal disease. To help her patients maintain their oral and overall health, she focuses on prevention, early intervention and patient education as much as possible. If you’d like to know more about periodontal disease and your heart or have any other questions, she can be reached via her website.