How Your Teeth Can Predict Heart Disease and Diabetes

While dentists only focus on your dental health, it is possible for your dentist to predict conditions that affect your entire body. Diabetes and heart disease are two common chronic conditions that your dentist can predict during regular dental checkups. That is because your teeth and gums show signs of early-stage chronic conditions as well as dental health conditions that can lead to other full body conditions. Here is a look at how your teeth can predict heart disease and diabetes.

Bacteria is not limited to one part of your body. It can hitch a ride on your blood vessels and travel just about anywhere. So, oral bacteria can travel throughout your body. Your mouth is designed to fight more bacteria because of this so that you can prevent serious infections. However, oral bacteria can affect your heart or your blood vessels directly and contribute to chronic conditions developing.

Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is a serious condition that can drastically affect your heart health. It is a narrowing of the arteries, which can make it difficult to move blood around your body. Your dental health can reflect this with a buildup of bacteria and overall poor dental health. The bacteria in your gums can infect your heart valves as well as increase the amount of plaque in your arteries. A dentist can predict this by examining your teeth and gums to see if there is significant plaque buildup that can affect your arteries.

Your gums respond to infections in much the same way as other tissue does. It swells up when infected. This may be an indicator that you are developing cardiovascular disease as well as doing damage to your cardiovascular system. Inflammation means that your immune system is fighting an infection, and this infection can extend through your cardiovascular system. Inflammation also leads to damage as it weakens that tissue in your veins. You can directly fight Cardiovascular Disease by improving your dental health. That way, there is less bacteria entering your body that can cause damage.

Periodontal Disease may be an indicator of Diabetes. Periodontal Disease can restrict blood flow to your mouth, while increasing the amount of sugar in your blood. The sugar increase can contribute to diabetes. However, Periodontal Disease can also be a side effect of uncontrolled diabetes. Diabetes can lead to high blood sugar, which feeds bacteria in your mouth making them grow faster and cause an infection. Either way, your dentist can spot possible problems with diabetes based on the presence of periodontal disease.

One of the biggest indicators of diabetes or heart disease is changes in blood sugar. Your blood sugar is directly connected to health conditions, especially diabetes. Your dentist can see if you have blood sugar issues by the state of your dental health. Many dental conditions also accompany bad blood sugar levels. You can also work with a skilled dentist to improve your dental health, which will help you control your blood sugar levels.

If you need help fixing your dental health to control other conditions, contact Gold Coast Smiles today at (516) 676-0250 to schedule your first appointment.