The Periodontal-Systemic Disease Interrelationships

Research suggest that there may be a link between periodontal diseases and other health concerns such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, bacterial pneumonia and increased risk during pregnancy.

                                                                               DIABETES

If you or somone you know has diabetes, you already know that it is important for diabetic patients to keep it under control with diet and exercise.  

When diabetes is not controlled properly, high glucose levels in saliva may help bacteria to thrive. 

Diabetic patients are three to four times more likely to develop chronic periodontal infections. Like any other infection in the body, periodontal infections can impair the ability to process and/or utilize insulin which can make diabetes more difficult to control. These infections may cause increased blood sugar that can increase the periods of time when a diabetic's blood sugar level is too high. Consquently, it is important for diabetic patients to have their perodontal diseases treated to control or eliminate the infection as one more way to achieve optimal control of theri blood sugar levels.

Happily periodontal therapy has been shwon to improve blood sugar levels in diabetic patients and may decrease their need for insulin.

 HEART DISEASE

When you think about your own risk for cardiovascular diseases, many things come to mind such as fatty foods, lack of exercise, and gentics. However, you may not be aware of another possible factor, namely the periodontal diseases. Recent studies suggest that people with periodontitis may have nearly twice the risk of having the a fatal heart attack as those without periodontitis.

There are several reasons why periodontal bacteria may affect your, heart in the presence of gum disease, normal tasks such as chewing or brushing your teeth may allow bacterial poisons to enter the bloodstream and irritate the blook vessel linings and/or enhance the chances that small blood clots will form and clog your arteries. Another possiblibity is that the inflammation caused by periodontitis may release chemicals into your blood that contribute to the build up of fatty deposits inside your heart arteries.

Like high cholesterol an elevated level of C-reactive protein (CRP) could be another reason as to why periodontitis could be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Periodontal diseases appear to trigger the liver to make proteins such as CRP that inflame arteries and cause blood clots that can lead to heart attacks.