Poor Oral Health Associated With Higher Risk Of Cardiovascular Disease, Study Finds.

Poor Oral Health Associated With Higher Risk Of Cardiovascular Disease, Study Finds.

HealthDay (4/19) provided continuing coverage of a recent clinical study that found “people who lost two or more teeth” during midlife had “a 23 percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease” regardless of other risk factors, such as diabetes, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure. “Some reasons for the increased risk may include inflammation, modifying dietary intakes or changing bacterial compositions in the mouth or gastrointestinal systems,” said researcher Dr. Lu Qi of Tulane University in New Orleans.

Separately, Medical Xpress (4/20) carried a release from the European Society of Cardiology that stated research presented Friday at Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology 2018 suggests “good oral hygiene may help recovery after acute cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and aortic dissection.” The release stated “the study in mice found that the bacteria that cause gum disease (periodontitis) also impair the healing of blood vessels.”