The adage "dirty mouth, dirty body" underscores the intricate link between oral hygiene and overall health. It's a poignant reminder that maintaining a clean mouth is crucial not only for dental health but also for the health of the entire body. This concept is supported by a growing body of scientific evidence that reveals how poor oral hygiene can contribute to various systemic health issues.
Oral Health And Systemic Diseases
The mouth serves as a gateway to the rest of the body, and poor oral health can be a contributing factor to a number of serious health conditions. For instance, periodontal disease (gum disease) is a chronic inflammatory condition caused by a bacterial infection of the gums. If left untreated, it can lead to significant tooth loss. More critically, the bacteria from periodontal disease can enter the bloodstream, causing inflammation and potentially contributing to heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
Erectile Dysfunction
I have even seen some researchers diving deep into the relationship between erectile dysfunction and periodontal disease. It would be absolutely wild to see these studies come to some sort of conclusion. You may not know this...but it is very hard to express the importance of treating periodontal disease to some patients. Some people just do not value their oral health. So, researchers are like...huh...what if we show people their oral health is affecting something they might truly care about...haha...who knows. Anyway, I like the hustle.
For those of you that are curious - the proposed correlation (erectile dysfunction and periodontal disease) is that periodontal disease can contribute to endothelial dysfunction which has downstream affects on organs that use a lot of blood. And if you didn't know, the penis is an organ that uses a rush of blood to function.
Okay So What Does This Mean?
Endothelium is the lining of blood vessels. Endothelial dysfunction is an error in the proper functioning of the lining of blood vessels. Are you catching what I am putting down? So, as we all know erections require lots of blood flow and there are some studies that periodontal disease can disrupt the function of lining of blood vessels. Thus, POTENTIALLY impacting the ability to achieve / maintain an erection. Wouldn't that be wild?
I would love to hear this conversation:
"Hey you have erectile dysfunction"
"Oh no, what do I do?"
"Floss more"
*cue confetti*
....Because I am sure a lot more men would floss if this were to be the case.
But alas, it is not that simple. Okay, back to your regularly scheduled program.
Back To The Basics
Let's talk body. We all know that your body systems are all interconnected. Immune cells live everywhere in your body. The fact that all these systems are connected can sometimes impact your body's capacity to fight off disease.
Say you have active disease in your mouth. Your body is using its immune cells to attempt and fight this infection. Therefore, when your immune system is challenged by viruses and bacteria throughout the day; you possess less capacity to fight these invaders because your immune system is busy fighting a disease process in your mouth.
The wild part is, unlike other areas in your body, your mouth is generally easily accessible...meaning, you can improve your oral health independently. But, there is a caveat.
The Caveat
Most of the population on earth has some form of gingivitis...or mild to moderate inflammation of the gums without the loss of the bone that holds the teeth in place. The disease process of gingivitis is very reversible with an improvement in homecare. But, once gingivitis progresses due to a lack of adequate homecare, your mouth enters into the stage of periodontal disease.
The issue here is you are no longer able to "cure" this aliment at home. This disease process occurs so far under the gums your traditional home care tools (toothbrush, waterpik, etc.) are not able to reach the bacteria. So, they fester and grown and start to eat away the supporting structures that holds your teeth in place.
Unfortunately, the bacteria that cause and are associated with periodontal disease, can and do travel to other parts of the body. They can impact heart valves, your lungs, and even your brain. A recent article came out about periodontal pathogens being found in cancerous tumors and INCREASING their pathogenicity. Click here to read our blog about this! WILD.
Long Story Long
Your body combats pathogens basically on the hour (probably on the minute) all day everyday. It is so important we do what we can to limit self inducing infections. And contrary to popular belief, there is some personal responsibility to periodontal disease. Yes, there are biologic and environmental factors that are sometimes out of our control.
But, for the most part it comes down to homecare. And it is so important to realize that if your body is busy fighting disease in your mouth, it has less capacity to fight other diseases in your body. Along with this, the bacteria that cause disease in your mouth can travel to other parts of your body and cause disease processes there.
So, make sure you take care of that mouth because there is a chance your mouth can be impacting the health of other parts of your body.
