So…What does Periodontal disease or a splinter in a finger have to do with your risk of developing diabetes, having a stroke, or suffering a heart attack? More than you might think. As scientists delve deeper into the fundamental causes of those and other illnesses, they are starting to see links to an age-old immunological defense mechanism called inflammation--the same biological process that turns the tissue around a splinter red and causes swelling in infected gums.
The instant potentially dangerous microbes slip into the body, inflammation marshals a defensive attack that lays waste to both invader and any tissue it may have infected. Then just as quickly, if everything works properly, the process subsides and healing begins.
Every once in a while, however, this whole process doesn't shut down on cue….and when this happens, inflammation becomes chronic rather than transitory. In effect, the body turns on itself--with after effects that seem to underlie a wide variety of diseases.
It can destabilize cholesterol deposits in the coronary arteries, leading to heart attacks and potentially even strokes. It can cause diabetes, osteopenia, respiratory diseases, and many other problems. In other words, chronic inflammation may be the engine that drives many of the most feared illnesses of middle and old age.
Inflammation causes the tissues to swell and become red. (No wonder the ancient Romans likened inflammation to being on fire.)
Our immunological defenses fight pitched battles until all the invading germs are annihilated. In a final flurry of activity, a last wave of cytokines is released, the inflammatory process recedes, and healing begins.
Problems begin when our immunological defenses can’t destroy all the bacteria. This is the case with Periodontal disease since the bacteria are shielded from our bodily defenses by hiding within the tartar.
Another good hiding place is within sticky protective barriers known as BIOFILM. This inability to completely kill all the infection causes the inflammatory process to persist and become chronic, which causes the body to release the inflammatory proteins that are the point of this discussion.
Further compounding the problem is this sad statistic: there are over 140 million American adults with moderate to severe Periodontal disease, and only 3% seek & receive treatment of their disease. The vast majority of the country is walking around with a potentially deadly disease process that is going untreated.
Among the first to recognize the broader implications of this were heart doctors who noticed that inflammation seems to play a key role in cardiovascular disease.
IS YOUR HEART ON FIRE?
Not long ago, most doctors thought of heart attacks as primarily a plumbing problem. Over the years, fatty deposits would slowly build up on the insides of major coronary arteries until they grew so big that they cut off the supply of blood to a vital part of the heart. A complex molecule called LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol, provided the raw material for these deposits. Clearly anyone with high LDL levels was at greater risk of developing heart disease.
There's just one problem with that explanation: sometimes it's dead wrong. Indeed, half of all heart attacks occur in people with normal cholesterol levels. Not only that, as imaging techniques improved, doctors found, much to their surprise, that the most dangerous plaques weren't necessarily all that large. Something that hadn't yet been identified was causing those fatty deposits to burst, triggering massive clots that cut off the coronary blood supply. In the 1990s, Ridker became convinced that some sort of inflammatory reaction was responsible for the bursting plaques, and he set about trying to prove it.
To test his hunch, Ridker needed a simple blood test that could serve as a marker for chronic inflammation. He settled on C reactive protein (CRP), a molecule produced by the liver in response to an inflammatory signal. By 1997, Ridker and his colleagues at Brigham and Women's had shown that healthy middle-aged men with the highest CRP levels were three times as likely to suffer a heart attack in the next six years as were those with the lowest CRP levels. What they have discovered is a complex interplay between inflammation, insulin and fat--either in the diet or in large folds under the skin. (Indeed, fat cells behave a lot like immune cells, spewing out inflammatory proteins (cytokines), particularly as you gain weight.)
In the meantime, there are things we all can do to dampen our inflammatory fires. Some of the advice may sound terribly familiar, but we have fresh reasons to follow through. Short of living on anti-inflammatory medications like aspirin or ibuprofen for the rest of our lives….what can we do?
Losing weight induces those fat cells--remember them?--to produce fewer inflammatory proteins. (cytokines) So does regular exercise, 30 minutes a day most days of the week.
Regular check-ups combined with GOOD home care (Flossing your teeth) combats gum disease. Without Good Periodontal Health, you can’t have good general health. Call Sweetwater Smiles for an appointment today! (407)786-2552.
Proper diet. Fruits and vegetables are full of substances that disable free radicals. If you can’t get the proper amount (or variety) of several different types of fruits and vegetables each day, a Whole Food based supplement such as Juice Plus is a great alternative.
Diseases associated with Periodontal disease:
Respiratory infections—from inhaling bacteria from the mouth. This can cause pneumonia and other lung infections.
Severe Osteopenia—which is a reduction in bone mass. This is especially a problem with post menopausal women
PreTerm or low birth weight babies—Pregnant women who have periodontal disease may be seven times more likely to have a baby that is born too early and too small. Oral microbes can cross the placental barrier, exposing the fetus to infection.
Stroke & Heart disease—We’ve already been talking about how inflammatory proteins caused by chronic infections/inflammation like periodontal disease increase your risk for both Strokes and heart attacks. In fact, the New England Journal of Medicine reports that elevated CRP levels are a better indicator of your chances for stroke or heart disease than your cholesterol levels.
Diabetes—Research has emerged that suggests that the relationship between periodontal disease and diabetes goes both ways - periodontal disease may make it more difficult for people who have diabetes to control their blood sugar.
Severe periodontal disease can increase blood sugar, contributing to increased periods of time when the body functions with a high blood sugar. This puts diabetics at increased risk for diabetic complications. Thus, diabetics who have periodontal disease should be treated to eliminate the periodontal infection.
In my opinion, there is no better means to bring the inflammatory & infectious processes of Periodontal disease under control than Laser Periodontal Therapy using the amazing Periolase MVP-7.
Portions of this post were taken from the Feb. 2004 issue of Time magazine entitled "The Secret Killer." More information can be found at Sweetwater Smiles.
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