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The
mouth-body connection
Teeth
and gums reveal the inside story of your overall health.
Health, body and mind shows you how the mouth is connected to
your body
By
Heather Hatfield
Opening your
mouth is somewhat like cracking open the hood of your car. An
expert taking a quick look can get a good sense of what's
working, what's not, and what should be tuned up regularly to
keep your body's systems up and running at their best.
Your teeth
and gums, it seems, speak volumes about your well-being. For
starters, cavities and gum disease may point to diabetes or
heart disease, and loose teeth could be a sign of
osteoporosis.
When there's
an underlying condition at play, more than 90 percent of
systemic conditions such as heart disease are linked to
symptoms in the mouth, your dentist can draw an important
connection between your oral health and your overall health,
and you can start getting everything from your teeth down to
your toes back on track. So sit back, relax, and open wide.
Here's what you need to know about the mouth-body connection.
Diabetes
Bleeding
gums, dry mouth, fungal infections and cavities, these signs
might clue your dentist into a serious health issue; diabetes.
And these symptoms also might suggest other serious
conditions, such as HIV and leukaemia.
"Diabetes
is the one disease that we know can have a direct impact on
infections in the bones and gums around the teeth," says
Sally Cram, DDS, Adviser, American Dental Association.
Diabetes and
your mouth have blood sugar in common. If blood sugar levels
are out of control in your body because you don't know you
have diabetes, they're out of control in your mouth. With
sugar to feed on, bacteria find a happy home in which to grow
and thrive. The bacteria then attack the protective enamel
layer on your teeth, and over time as the enamel breaks down,
cavities develop, one of the dental signs of diabetes.
A person
with diabetes has more mouth woes to worry about; uncontrolled
diabetes reduces the body's first line of defense against
infection - white blood cells -which can then put a person's
health at risk. With bacteria teeming around the gums from
high blood sugar levels, periodontal or gum disease is an easy
next step.
Unfortunately,
because diabetes lowers a person's resistance to infection,
managing periodontal disease isn't easy. "If you have
diabetes, and periodontal disease, you have to get your blood
sugar levels under control, for both the sake of your body and
your mouth," says Cram. Frequent professional cleanings
are important in helping prevent or control periodontal
disease, and home care requires flossing and brushing after
every meal.
Heart
Disease
If on your
last visit to the dentist you were told you had gingivitis or
gum inflammation, cavities, missing teeth, molar infections,
and/or decay so severe it's left only the roots of a tooth;
and one must know that mouth isn't the only thing being
attacked.
According to
a research from the American Heart Association, it is said
that these mouth factors can increase one chances of
developing heart disease - more than the usual suspects of
cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
Unfortunately,
none understands how your mouth is connected to your heart. So
while you wait for more research related to the impact on
heart health, your dentist might recommend you do two things;
brush and floss.
"The
few minutes you need to spend a day brushing and flossing is a
small price to pay not to have a bypass surgery when you are
older if there turn out to be a connection," research
tells.
Osteoporosis
"Bones
are bones, and that includes the jaw," says Kellerman.
"As the anchor point for the teeth, if your jaw becomes
less dense and weakens, losing teeth becomes more and more
likely."
Osteoporosis
that weakens the jaw may lower a person's defense against
bacteria that affect the gums, which can lead to periodontal
disease.
"You
want to be very conscientious about brushing and flossing if
you have osteoporosis, because if you get periodontal disease,
and you are already losing bone mass, you're at a higher risk
of losing teeth," says Cram.
The risk of
tooth loss is three times greater for women with osteoporosis
than for women who do not have the disease. "Women in
particular should take calcium and vitamin D, exercise, eat
right, and do all of the things necessary to help prevent
osteoporosis, which down the road could help prevent losing
teeth," Kellerman tells. "Every time you lose a
tooth it's like losing a pearl."
Women: The
female factor
"Women
need to be aware that they are at a higher risk for
periodontal disease and gum disease during puberty, pregnancy,
their menstrual cycle each month and then menopause, as we
know there is a correlation between high hormone levels in the
body and inflammation in the gums surrounding the teeth,"
a recent British study suggests.
When hormone
levels are very high, women can be more sensitive to a small
amount of plaque or bacteria. "For example, if you
weren't pregnant, and you forgot to floss for a couple of
days, it probably wouldn't be an issue," says Cram.
"But if you are pregnant and forget to floss and plaque
collects, you can get these swollen, painful growths in your
gums that you otherwise probably wouldn't have."
Being
pregnant and having periodontal disease may also put your baby
at risk. Studies show that pregnant women with periodontal
disease have higher risk of premature labour and it could be
due to the inflammation and bacteria in the mouth that makes
its way into the bloodstream.
Smoking
If you
smoke, your dentist knows it. Along with tinted-yellow teeth,
smokers are at greater risk for a long list of unpleasant
health issues, with tooth loss leading the pack. A
smile-killing 41 percent of daily smokers over age 65 are
toothless. If that's not enough to make one snuff out the
habit, smoking can also raise one's chances of calculus,
plaque that hardens on the teeth and can only be removed
during a professional cleaning; deep pockets between the teeth
and gums; loss of the bone and tissue that support your teeth;
mouth sores; and cancer.
Bottom line
is that the risk of not caring for your teeth far outweighs,
the effort required to keep your mouth clean - so get
brushing!
--www.webmd.com |
ally
on only one hair follicle at a time but it can also come with
some degree of pain and often even the quickest treatment
using electrolysis is still considered to be about ten months
duration. The reason electrolysis is painful is because a
tiny, metal probe is inserted into the hair follicle, the tiny
probe releases an electronic charge or current which destroys
the hair at the root source.
Samad Shera, addressing the gathering expressed his concern
about the rising incidence of diabetes and said that it has
created an alarming situation worldwide. Pakistan is one of
the countries having the highest number of diabetics and
facing an epidemic of diabetes. According to World Health
Organisation (WHO) estimates, there are presently more than
seven million diabetics in Pakistan and this number will
increase to 16 million by 2025. Another six million or more
are suffering from Impaired Glucose Tolerance which means they
are at high risk of developing diabetes. This ranks country
eighth in the world as far as the number of the diabetics is
concerned and according to WHO estimation, Pakistan will be
placed fourth in this regard, by the year 2025. These figures
make diabetes an epidemic and call for an immediate action.
according to a new study. Saturated fat, considered one of the
unhealthy fats, typically comes from animal foods, such as
meat and dairy. Cheese, sausage, and butter are all high in
saturated fat. The study looked at data from the NIH-AARP Diet
and Health Study. Researchers analysed data on 294,707 men and
199,293 women. Participants were first evaluated in 1995
through a questionnaire. They were asked about their diet. The
study followed them through 2003 or until they were diagnosed
with cancer or died. During the median follow-up time of 7.5
years, 165 small intestine cancers were diagnosed. The study
found a link between high intakes of saturated fats and
carcinoid tumors of the small intestine.
vaccine against four strains of human papillomavirus (HPV),
may help prevent genital warts in boys and men. That's
according to a new study presented this week in Nice, France,
at the annual meeting of the European Research Organisation on
Genital Infection and Neoplasia (EUROGIN). Gardasil targets
four HPV strains that can lead to cervical cancer. The CDC
recommends Gardasil for all girls aged 11-12, and the vaccine
is approved for girls and women aged 9-26. But HPV isn't just
a problem for women. In men, HPV can lead to genital warts,
anal cancer, and penile cancer. The new study included 4,065
men aged 16-26. They got three shots of Gardasil or a placebo
over six months. Participants who got the Gardasil shots were
90 percent less likely to develop genital warts related to the
four HPV strains that Gardasil targets.
o
over-eating and obesity early in life, research suggests.
Tests on rats showed those born to mothers fed a high-fat diet
had many more brain cells specialised to produce
appetite-stimulating proteins. The Rockefeller University team
say the finding may help explain why obesity rates have soared
in recent years. The study appears in the Journal of
Neuroscience. Previous research on adult animals had shown
that when fats known as triglycerides circulate in the blood
they stimulate the production of proteins in the brain known
as orexigenic peptides, which in turn stimulate the appetite.
The latest study suggests exposure to triglycerides from the
mother's diet has the same effect on the developing foetal
brain - and that the effect then lasts throughout the
offspring's life.
s
your heart, researchers find. The study comes from Michael
Miller, MD, director of preventive cardiology at the
University of Maryland. Miller reported the findings at this
week's annual meeting of the American Heart Association in New
Orleans. Ten volunteers identified specific music that made
them feel a sense of joy. While the music played, Miller ad
colleagues used an ultrasound device to measure how well each
person's blood vessels responded to a sudden increase in blood
flow (caused by release of a blood pressure cuff). When they
heard joyful music, the volunteers' blood vessels dilated by
26 percent, which is a very healthy response. It's similar in
magnitude to the response seen after aerobic exercise.