Written by Jenny Hope
Brushing and flossing your teeth could save you from a heart attack, claim experts.
Doctors found those with the worst blockages in their arteries had the most severe gum disease.
There is mounting evidence of a link between gum disease and heart disease, but a study claims to be the first to show that the severity of each disease may also be connected.
Chronic gum disease is called periodontitis, which occurs when waste material or plaque collects around the teeth and irritates the gums. Plaque is removed when teeth are looked after properly.
However, failure to brush and floss can lead to the irritated gums becoming infected. Teeth become loose and can even fall out.
It is not clear how gum disease may trigger heart problems, although it is thought that bacteria released from the infected gums are the key.
The bacteria enter the bloodstream where they may activate the immune system, making artery walls inflamed and narrowed, or attach directly to fatty deposits already present in the arteries which causes further narrowing.
French cardiologists and dentists looked at 131 patients referred to hospital for an X-ray examination of the arteries. All were examined for gum disease and had their blood checked for inflammation.
Patients with artery disease had more severe periodontitis than those without, said study leader Dr Nicolas Amabile.
“The most severe teeth disease was associated with the most widespread arterial lesions,” he said.
“We are the first to report that the severity of periodontitis is linked to the extension of coronary arterial lesions.”
The findings by the team in Marseille were released yesterday at the European Society of Cardiology annual meeting in Vienna.
Dr Amabile said gum disease could be used as a new risk factor to identify those likely to develop heart disease.
“Since periodontitis is easily accessible to treatment with antibiotics and dental care, one might think its treatment could also be beneficial for coronary artery disease,” he said.
“This has to be confirmed with larger studies but may represent a new original approach to handle heart disease in the future.”
Professor Robin Seymour, of Newcastle University Dental School, said the link between gum disease and heart disease was not yet proven. He said it was not clear whether established risk factors for heart disease such as smoking and diabetes had been taken into account.
However, research carried out at his own unit and in Australia showed patients with advanced gum disease who had all their teeth removed showed a fall in a blood marker for heart disease.
Professor Seymour said: “They have only been followed for six months and we don’t know whether it will produce any longterm reduction in heart disease.
“It’s good practice to get your teeth checked regularly. You may not even be aware you have gum disease but it’s both preventable and treatable.”
Being depressed can hinder recovery from a heart attack and raises the risk of having another one, say researchers.
They claim antidepressants may not only help heart attack patients’ mental wellbeing but improve their long-term survival chances.
Their study suggests those who are not depressed achieve nearnormality in heart rate measurements within a few months.
But depressed patients continue to have problems that can put them at risk of sudden death, although those taking antidepressants improve as a result.
The reasons are unclear, they say, but depression raises inflammation in the body and affects hormonal responses which affect heart health.
The findings are reported today in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Dr Alexander Glassman of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, led the study of 290 depressed patients who had survived a heart attack.
The source of this article is http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=479769&in_page_id=1774&ito=1490