(February, 2011)Take care of your mouth, take care of your body
Your toothbrush may just save your life. Although those bristles
aren’t going to be much use in a fight, they are part of a
battle being waged in your mouth. Bacteria abound, and a growing
body of research suggests that keeping them in line with a
strong oral hygiene program may benefit the health of your
entire body. Conditions such as osteoporosis and some cancers
may first be evidenced in the mouth, and gum disease
(periodontitis) can lead to issues elsewhere. When your mouth is
healthy, the bacteria that thrive there stay there. But,
explains dental hygienist and continuing education speaker
Trisha O’Hehir, RDH, “the mouth is a bacterial gateway to the
rest of the body.” If you develop gum disease, “bacteria and
toxins in the mouth travel to other parts of the body.” O’Hehir
notes that oral bacteria have been found in places where disease
exists, including arthritic joints and thickened blood vessel
walls—a type of heart disease called athero