Taking care of your gums by brushing, flossing, and regular dental visits could help hold heart disease at bay.
Researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health have shown for the first time that as gum health improves, progression of atherosclerosis slows to a clinically significant degree. Findings appear online in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Artherosclerosis, or the narrowing of arteries through the build-up of plaque, is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and death.
"These results are important because atherosclerosis progressed in parallel with both clinical periodontal disease and the bacterial profiles in the gums. This is the most direct evidence yet that modifying the periodontal bacterial profile could play a role in preventing or slowing both diseases," says Moïse Desvarieux, MD, PhD, lead author of the paper and associate professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School.
The researchers followed 420 adults as part of the Oral Infections and Vascular Disease Epidemiology Study (INVEST), a randomly sampled prospective cohort of Northern Manhattan residents. Participants were examined for periodontal infection. Overall, 5,008 plaque samples were taken from several teeth, beneath the gum, and analyzed for 11 bacterial strains linked to periodontal disease and seven control bacteria.
Fluid around the gums was sampled to assess levels of Interleukin-1β, a marker of inflammation. Atherosclerosis in both carotid arteries was measured using high-resolution ultrasound