Healthy mouth, healthy heart?
Not always.
However, some oral health problems can be related to other diseases, especially
heart
diseases .
For this reason, a new initiative from the
American Heart
Association (AHA) focuses on dentists to promote the
prevention and early detection
of several diseases, including heart diseases.
According to them, the role of dentists could be key, given that, for example, in the United States many people go to dentists' offices every year, but
not necessarily
to another doctor.
Something similar
could happen
at the local level.
“Thousands of people consult a dentist every year, and I think it is an excellent opportunity to not only check the mouth but also
take blood pressure
and refer, for example, to the doctor, cases of high blood pressure that would have gone unnoticed,” highlights the cardiologist member of the Argentine Society of Cardiology (SAC) Mario Boskis, who shared with
Clarín
his opinions regarding this initiative.
Oral health and coronary heart disease
According to the initiative, called
“Healthy Smiles, Healthy Hearts
,” “research shows that chronic inflammation of the gums
may be associated
with other chronic diseases, such as coronary artery disease and diabetes.” ”.
Additionally, they note that certain bacteria that live in the mouth
can travel
through the bloodstream to other parts of the body, including the heart and lungs.
“Oral bacteria, including viridans group streptococci (VGS), can cause
infective endocarditis
, an infection of the inner lining of the heart or heart valves,” they indicate.
In the same sense, and taking into account that oral diseases
can affect systemic health
, they urge to reinforce preventive oral care routines, since they are essential to reduce associated health risks, including cardiovascular conditions.
Visiting the dentist could help detect heart disease.
Photo Shutterstock,
Meanwhile, when explaining how oral health
can affect
cardiovascular health, Boskis recognizes that "although it has been found that oral diseases such as gingivitis or even cavities have a direct association with a greater risk of heart attack." myocardium or stroke, the mechanism by which this could happen is not yet known.”
“The proposed theory suggests that infection in the oral cavity would be responsible for generating a
process of generalized chronic inflammation in the body,
which when focused on the arteries, alters their endothelial layer and makes them sick, generating atheromatous plaques.” , expand.
And it confirms that the bacteria present in the mouth themselves would complicate this condition, given that they are capable of “traveling” through the bloodstream and depositing in these plaques, which over time have the potential to evolve into
total arterial obstructions
.
“Beyond theory, there are studies that say that cleaning your teeth
three or more times
a day could reduce the cardiovascular events described by up to 9%, and that having your teeth cleaned by the dentist once a year reduces that risk by 14%. %.
Without a doubt, they are interesting numbers to take into account when we talk about cardiovascular prevention,” he ponders.
The dentist and the cardiologist
"Oral health professionals can play a critical role as part of a whole-body care team to
reduce the risk
of cardiovascular disease," said Joseph Wu, president and director of the AHA, Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and professor of Medicine and Radiology at Stanford School of Medicine.
"When dentists and primary care physicians work together, we can create many more access points for quality,
integrated health care
and educate our patients about the impact of good oral hygiene on overall health and well-being."
In this sense, they clarify that there are more than 134,000 dental offices in the United States and approximately 27 million patients visit their dentist each year, but not necessarily another doctor.
Chronic gum inflammation may be associated with coronary artery disease.
Photo Shutterstock.
Therefore, they emphasize that dentists can be an
important resource
for advising and examining patients to detect many chronic diseases, including hypertension and oral cancer, creating a valuable opportunity to promote prevention and earlier detection.
“There is increasing evidence in the medical literature that suggests that
there is a relationship
between poor oral health and a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease, so much so that a strategic partnership between cardiologists and dentists is being promoted by scientific societies. to raise awareness about this issue and turn the dentist into a true health agent,” concluded Boskis.
***
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