*The information on this page is exerted from the chapter Health Challenges and Periodontal Infection. For complete information and illustrations please see this chapter in The Periodontal Solution: Healthy Gums Naturally.

What you should know ...

• The National Institute of Dental Research states that 75% of the adult population has moderate to advanced periodontal infection.
  
  
• 90% of adults have some form of gingivitis
  
  
• 30% of children have moderate Periodontal Infection
  
  
• According to the National Institute of Health, “the incidence of Periodontal Infection exceeds 70% in the 30 – 44 age groups and 90% in the 55 – 64 age group. 8,9
  
  
• Present research overwhelmingly supports the assertion that Periodontal Infection affects the rest of the body in dramatic ways.10,11,12
  

Heart Disease > Stroke > Diabetes > Stomach Ulcers > Obesity and Weight Loss > Pneumonia and Respiratory Diseases > Pregnancy > Osteoporosis

If you have an unhealthy mouth, you have an unhealthy body!

• The Surgeon General’s Report on Oral Health: Implications on Research and Education stresses the seriousness of the connection between PI and many systemic diseases.
  
  
• Other research associates PI with over forty diseases, including heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The sheer number of studies that directly or indirectly examine the oral-systemic link is substantial.14,15
  
  
• Parade Magazine, March 26, 2000 has an article entitled “Keep Your Gums Healthy—And Your Heart Will Benefit.” The word is definitely getting out.
  

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Heart Disease

• There is increasing awareness in medical literature that coronary heart disease is linked not only to hereditary and nutritional factors, but that it also has infectious origin.18,19, 20,
  
  
• Researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, (UNC) conducted a long-term study involving 1,147 men. The study concluded that having PI increases the risk for coronary heart disease by 150%, for fatal coronary heart disease by 190%, and for stroke by 280%. It was found that heart attack survivors with PI also have a greater risk of suffering a second heart attack.29
  
  
• UNC also added that heart-attack survivors who have advanced PI are more likely to have elevated blood levels of C-reactive-factor protein (CRP), an inflammatory protein associated with heart disease. Further research noted that CRP levels were directly related to the severity of the PI.30
  
  
• At the Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland, doctors followed the medical history of 9,760 patients for fourteen years. They confirmed that those with the most severe dental infections at the beginning of the study had a 25% increased risk of developing coronary heart disease, especially men under 50 years of age.35
  

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• Stroke
  The First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and its follow-up represents the first major study correlating cerebrovascular accidents (strokes) with Periodontal Infection. The study comprised 9,962 adults, ages 25 to 74, categorized from no PI to significant PI. The results were astounding: having PI represented more than a 200% greater risk for total strokes and, in particular, non-bleeding strokes.38
  
  
• Arnin Grau, M.D., of the Department of Neurology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany discovered that poor dental status resulting from chronic dental and bone infection was associated with a stroke increase of two and one-half times over non-PI patients. 39
  
  

Diabetes (Diabetes Mellitus)

• Previously, it was assumed that the association between Periodontal Infection and diabetes was the diabetic patient’s compromised ability to respond to infectious challenges. Therefore, they were predisposed to bacterial infections such as PI.
  
  
• However, now the opposite possibility should be considered. Dr. Robert Genco, chairman of Oral Biology Department at SUNYAB, said, “Diabetics are at a higher risk for periodontal disease.” His studies show that treating PI may reduce a diabetic’s blood sugar levels.40,41

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Stomach Ulcers and H. Pylori

• Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a species of bacteria that is found in the stomach lining of 50% of all Americans and has been associated with stomach ulcers and stomach cancer. 49
  
  
• Even when H. pylori was eliminated from the stomach with antibiotic therapy, it was not completely eradicated from the mouth, where it continues to grow in colonies deep within periodontal pockets. These pockets could be a source of re-infection for the stomach.50
  
  
  
  

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Obesity and Weight Loss

• Dr. Sara Grossi, clinical assistant professor of oral biology, director of the UB Periodontal Disease Research Center states, “Acute infections cause metabolic disturbances, and periodontal disease is one of humankind’s most common chronic infections. In this case, we think bacteria from gum disease may interfere with fat metabolism, leading to elevated LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol.”51
  
  
• Statistics correlate obesity and PI. Results obtained from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination (NHANES III) show that overweight people with the highest levels of insulin resistance are 50% more likely to have severe PI compared to overweight people with low insulin resistance.52
  
  
• Dr. O. A’cbay and his team discovered that H. pylori in the stomach triggers the release of the hormone gastrin. Gastrin acts to stimulate the pancreas to release insulin, causing hyperinsulinemia, a serious condition that may not only result in diabetic complications and obesity but also put the heart at risk. Further studies are warranted to investigate whether eliminating H. pylori in the stomach can help in weight reduction.53
  
  

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Pneumonia and Respiratory Diseases

• Bacterial respiratory infections may be acquired by inhaling fine droplets of oral fluids from the mouth and throat. These droplets contain germs, which can breed and multiply within the lungs. It is recognized that pneumonia and lung abscesses can result from the same bacteria that cause PI. Dental plaque would seem to be a logical source of these bacteria, especially in patients with PI.54
  
  

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Pregnancy

• Researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) have made an enormous contribution to understanding the correlation between PI and pre-term, low-birth-weight babies (PTLBW). An infectious process appears to trigger either early labor or a premature rupture of membranes by placing undue stress on the immune system.57
  
  
• Marjorie Jeffcoat, D.M.D., Department of Periodontics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry stated, “…the trend for pre-term birth was observed in women with as little as two sites (of PI).”63
  
  
• Further studies in “The Journal of Infectious Immunity” were conducted on hamsters. When maternal hamsters were exposed to a common oral pathogen, such as P. gingivalis, they experienced stressed delivery.65,66
  
  

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Osteoporosis

• Dental researchers have established a connection between PI and bone disease. A study at SUNYAB reviewed the medical records of 2,599 postmenopausal women and found that women who had osteoporosis of the hip were two times more likely to have loose teeth and PI than women with healthy hip bones.67
  
  
• Researchers are starting to use bone scans to compare the bone density of the hip to that of the bone surrounding the teeth. Preliminary results indicate that, as dental bone density decreases, so does hip bone density. Further studies are warranted.69

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