The health of your teeth provide clues to your overall health, and even give clues to health issues that did not originate in the mouth. Some known conditions such as heart disease, lung infections, and diabetes are related to poor oral health. And now researchers from the University of Michigan Medical and Dental School discovered that inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that included Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis may be the latest condition made worse by poor oral health.[i]
The precise mechanism by which oral infection contributes to the pathogenesis of extra-oral diseases unfortunately remains unclear. The study indicates that periodontal inflammation exacerbates gut inflammation in living organisms.
The study revealed two pathways where oral bacteria worsened gut inflammation. In the first pathway, periodontitis leads to an imbalance in the normal healthy microbiome found in the mouth, with an increase of bacteria that cause inflammation to the gums. These bacteria then make their way to the gut.
And the second pathway revealed that periodontitis activates the immune system’s T cells in the mouth. Those T cells travel to the gut where they, also worsen inflammation.
The researchers noted that their findings imply that clinical outcomes in IBD may be improved by monitoring and treatment of your oral inflammation, and may give hope for those patients whose treatments fail and lead to reduced quality of life and eventual surgery.
We provide a variety of hygiene treatment to help reduce oral inflammation. Call us for your hygiene needs. We have both in-network and out-of network programs available depending on your insurance benefits.
Novy Scheinfeld, DDS, PC
ZoAnna Bock, MS, DMD
Hanna Orland, DMD
Howard Abrahams, DDS
290 Carpenter Drive, 200A
Sandy Springs, GA 30328
404-256-3620
And
3781 Chamblee Dunwoody Road
Chamblee, GA 30341
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[i] The mouse study titled, “The intermucosal connection between the mouth and gut in commensal pathobiont-driven colitis,” is published in Cell and led by Nobuhiko Kamada, PhD, assistant professor of internal medicine in the division of gastroenterology.
the right smile 