Tooth Infection and Heart Disease: What Should you Be Aware of?

ait, how can there be a relation between the two? After all, they aren’t even related remotely, right?

You might just be wondering “What does my teeth have anything to do with my heart? Am I going to get a heart attack just because I have an infection in my mouth?”

Most people react in a similar manner when they hear something like this. Turns out, there is a good amount of link between the two. Let’s put your doubts to rest.

Ever wondered what happens when you neglect your teeth?

Plaque appears, bacteria develop, infections begins to spread and you get gingivitis or periodontitis, etc. – you’ve heard the story. What you didn’t hear is that these bacteria or the plaque do not stop working. These malicious things enter your bloodstream, if the infection has managed to bore down to your tooth. Your bloodstream is like the land of opportunity to them. But being what they are, know that they are up to no good.

Understanding what plaque and bacteria are capable of doing

Plaque starts depositing in the arteries which supply blood from your heart to the various parts of your body. If left uncontrolled, it has the potential to choke up your arteries and stop the blood supply from reaching its destination. Choked arteries are not something you should ignore.

The same goes for bacteria.

These are parasites, living off your nutrition. And they’re more than happy to multiply at a rate at which you can’t even imagine. When these infectious microbes reach your heart, it’s like contaminated water reaching the water supply pump of an entire city.

Your heart is incapable of distinguishing anything. It just pumps blood. That’s all it does. So, it’ll pump out the bacterium-infected blood to all parts of your body. Think about the amount of damage and havoc these bacteria can do when they start gouging your innocent cells all over the body.

That’s what happens over time, but don’t think for a moment that these two will leave your heart alone. Uh-uh. Here’s some big words for ya – Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS). These are what you will get eventually. And then a heart attack is not that far away..

Things to consider

And then there are things that compound these problems. Factors like age, gender, conditions like diabetes, history of heart disease also play a crucial role in increasing the risk. Your heart is responsible for keeping the rest of your body going. Its failure will mean an automatic shutdown of your entire system which can only lead to something even worse. You might forget your dental health’s connection to your cardiovascular health, but it is time to stop being careless

Even if you find evidence to the contrary or this all sounds a bit far fetched, would that be a reason enough to keep neglecting your teeth? It’s important to get into a good oral hygiene starting today!