Bad teeth are
related to bad heart arteries
New Delhi: Saturday, 8 December 2012: Winter, more heart disease, more blood pressure,
more heart attacks, more paralysis. Its time to go to not only to your
cardiologists but also to your dentist as in middle-aged adults, gum disease goes hand in hand with the metabolic
syndrome and heart disease, said Padma Shri & Dr. B.C. Roy
National Awardee, Dr. KK Aggarwal,
President, Heart Care Foundation of India.
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of
risk factors for heart disease, paralysis and diabetes -- including high blood
pressure, abdominal obesity, high blood sugar, low levels of "good"
HDL cholesterol and high triglycerides (another type of blood fat). The
syndrome is usually diagnosed when a person has three or more of these traits.
There is a link between
periodontitis, an infection of the tissue supporting the teeth seen in up to 40
percent of adults, and system-wide problems such as low grade inflammation and
a reduced ability to metabolize glucose.
Quoting a study published in the
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Dr Aggarwal said that people
with periodontitis are also at about 20 percent greater risk of heart disease.
Both periodontitis and the metabolic
syndrome are linked to inflammation and resistance to insulin.
In the study 34% percent of people
with moderate periodontitis and 37% with severe periodontitis had the metabolic
syndrome, compared to just 18 percent of people with no gum disease or only
mild periodontitis.
The likelihood of being diagnosed
with metabolic syndrome rose with the severity of bleeding in the gums, as well
as the proportion of periodontal pockets, or abnormally deep spaces between
teeth and gums. The relationship was especially strong among people 40 and
older.
Adults older than age 45 suffering
from severe periodontitis were 2.3-times
more likely to have metabolic syndrome than unaffected individuals.
In the study treating severe
periodontitis resulted in better blood vessel function six months later.
Comments
Post a Comment