Could tooth loss from mold gingivitis cause heart disease later in life?

[Guest guest]

Tooth loss linked to higher heart disease risk

• Heart Disease news • Sep 06, 2007

Young adults who lose their teeth to cavities or gum disease may have

an increased risk of dying from heart disease later in life, a new

study suggests.

The findings, reported in the journal Heart, add to evidence linking

oral health to heart health. A number of studies have suggested that

gum disease may contribute to heart disease over time—though it's

still not clear that there is a cause-and-effect relationship.

This latest study involved more than 12,000 UK adults who were

followed from college onward, for up to 57 years. Researchers found

that those with a large number of missing teeth in young

adulthood—nine or more—were one-third more likely to die of heart

disease than their peers with fewer than five missing teeth.

The link remained when the researchers considered factors such as

socioeconomic background and smoking, which harms both the teeth and

gums and the heart.

Tooth loss is an indicator of poor oral health. Scientists speculate

that the bacteria in the mouth that cause cavities and gum disease may

enter the bloodstream and either damage the blood vessel lining

directly or trigger inflammation in the body that then contributes to

heart disease.

The current findings do not prove that this is the case, according to

the study authors, led by Dr. Yu-Kang Tu of the University of Leeds.

But they do support a relationship between tooth loss and

cardiovascular disease, Tu told Reuters Health. Unlike most other

studies in this area, the researcher noted, this one looked at oral

health early in life rather than in old age.

" Our study adds to the evidence that chronic infection—oral or

elsewhere in the (body)—may increase the risk of cardiovascular

diseases, " Tu said.

The findings are based on 12,631 men and women who had medical and

dental exams as college students in the 1940s through 1960s. They were

then traced through the UK National Health Service until 2005, during

which time 1,432 died.

Overall, men and women with the most severe tooth loss as college

students were 35 percent more likely to have died from heart disease

than those with four or fewer missing teeth.

It's too soon to say that good oral hygiene will lower anyone's risk

of heart disease, according to Tu—particularly since this risk depends

on multiple lifestyle and genetic factors. But, Tu added, it also

won't hurt people to take better care of their teeth.

SOURCE: Heart, September 2007.