Gum Specialists and Heart Doctors Team Up For Your Heart.
Heath care providers from two seemingly different specialties are teaming up to help you withstand heart disease, one of the leading causes of death in Australia. Data provided by the Australia Bureau of Statistics showed that diseases of the circulatory system or cardiovascular disease, accounted for 36% of all deaths in 2004. This malady is also a leading cause of premature deaths.
Reducing this toll is something that everyone can support, and these days heart specialists are working with dentists and gum specialist (periodontist), joining forces in what at first glance seems to be an unlikely pairing. So what’s the connection? Periodontal disease can affect as many as 75% of adults in developing countries and is a major cause of tooth loss, but you can’t die from it, or can you?
Researchers have known for over a decade that a link exists between diseased gums and cardiovascular problems as well as other health issues. Suspected at first was the entry of bacteria from the gums into the bloodstream and then into the heart. Later research is turning up a more prominent role for inflammation. Apparently, inflammation in one organ of the body can play havoc with the wellbeing of another, and the teeth are not that far from the heart as the blood corpuscles flow.
