Periodontal Disease Therapy
in Ridgefield Park, NJ

Some conditions with strong connections to oral health include:

Some conditions with strong connections to oral health include:

• Diabetes – Gum disease can make diabetes harder to control, and diabetes can exacerbate gum disease. We explore the topic in more detail on the linked page, here.
• Heart disease and stroke – Conditions causing chronic inflammation, such as periodontal disease, have connections to the likelihood of heart disease and stroke. 
• Respiratory disease – The bacteria that grow in the mouth can find its way into the lungs as well. Respiratory diseases, such as pneumonia, can be caused by the same bacteria responsible for periodontal disease.
• Cancer – According to the American Academy of Periodontology, those with periodontal disease were more likely to develop cancer than those without:
  • 54% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer
  • 49% more likely to develop kidney cancer
  • 30% more likely to develop blood cancers

Other diseases that may be caused or complicated by oral infections include:

• IBS
• Breast cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Weight gain
• Alzheimer’s and dementia
• Low birth weight and premature birth
• Osteoporosis
• Rheumatoid arthritis

It’s critical to understand how important oral health truly is to our wellbeing, and to take it seriously in order to help prevent, or reduce the effects of other conditions. 
Below, we’ll look at some of these conditions in a little more detail. 

The health of your mouth and the rest of your body are linked, and there’s an especially strong connection when it comes to diabetes and periodontal disease. For those who are suffering from diabetes, gum disease is often more likely and cases can be more severe.

 How is diabetes linked to gum disease?

Diabetes is a disease that occurs when the amount of glucose, or blood sugar, in the body is too high. A hormone known as insulin is responsible for helping the cells in your body to use this glucose for energy. For those with diabetes, the body doesn’t produce enough insulin, so too much glucose stays in the bloodstream.

Inflammation in the mouth, such as the type responsible for periodontal disease, have an impact on the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar levels as well. This means that people with diabetes, whose bodies are already struggling with processing sugar, can find themselves having an even harder time if they are suffering from gum disease.

This link can go both ways, too, as high blood sugar levels provide an environment that can make gum infections more likely,

The potential links between periodontal disease and heart disease and stroke have been the subject of medical research in recent years. While a clear cause-and-effect relationship has yet to be established, findings lend a lot of credibility to the connection between oral inflammation and cardiovascular disease.

Researchers have found that chronic inflammation in the body is a major contributor to health problems in the body. This means that long-term inflammation, such as that in gum disease, may lead to narrowing or blockages in blood vessels—a situation that can lead to a heart attack or stroke.

In an article that looked at a number of related studies, it was found that having periodontal disease increases a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease by around 20%. One stroke expert reported that periodontal disease could make a person almost twice as likely to experience a stroke.

While research is still ongoing, what’s already been discovered should only put more emphasis on the need for a healthy mouth and gums.

If you have any concerns about the health of your mouth, or if you haven’t had a dental appointment in a while, make sure to get in touch to schedule your next visit.

Links have been established between gum disease and many types of cancers.

Pancreatic Cancer

Studies performed at Brown University Harvard New York University and others have looked into the link between gum disease and pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is extremely hard to detect and causes death within six months of diagnosis. It is approximated that pancreatic cancer is responsible for nearly 40,000 deaths per year in the US. So, what is the connection between gum disease and pancreatic cancer?

The connection comes from changes in the microbial mix in your mouth. Those who have porphyromonas gingivalis in their mouth were at a 59% higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer. In addition to prophyromonas gingivalis, those who had aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans were 50% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer.

While the names may not mean much to the average person, the important thing to understand is that both of these types of bacteria have been tied to gum disease.

Unfortunately, the majority of Americans do not take proper care of their gums. It is reported that nearly half of American adults over the age of 30 have some form of periodontal disease. If you look at Americans over the age of 65, the percentage suffering from periodontal disease increases to 65%. Although not nearly as talked about, gum disease is almost 2.5 times more common than diabetes.

However, there is some good news! Gum disease responds extremely well to treatment and can easily be reversed after detected by your dentist.

Breast Cancer

A study done by the Federal University of Santa Maria Dental School in Brazil found that women with periodontitis are 2-3x more likely to develop breast cancer. In this instance, the researchers believe that breast cancer may be triggered due to systemic inflammation resulting from gum disease.

The study was based on 67 women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and 134 controls from 2013 to 2015. It is important to remember that this study has not proven that gum disease causes breast cancer, but the findings do provide further support for the idea that oral health is vital to our overall wellbeing.

In the United States, for every 100,000 women, there are 124.9 new cases of breast cancer. Breast cancer continues to be studied, and this possible connection to oral health provides another avenue to be explored when learning to treat this type of cancer. 

Esophageal Cancer

A 10-year study performed by NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center has found that two types of bacteria that are present in individuals with gum disease can increase the chances of being affected by esophageal cancer.

The eight most common type of cancer in the world, esophageal cancer can be highly fatal and is the sixth most common cause of cancer-related deaths. In the US, it affects around 1 in 125 men and 1 in 417 women. The American Cancer Society says that currently, only around 20% of those diagnosed with this form of cancer will live for more than five years following diagnosis.

The study by NYU Langone found that bacteria associated with periodontal (gum) disease can find its way into the upper digestive tract, and in the case of one of the types of bacteria in the study, tannerella forsythia, its presence may increase the chances of this kind of cancer by 21%.

It is important to note that while the bacteria involved demonstrates a link between gum disease and esophageal cancer, it has not yet been proven that periodontal disease directly causes the cancer. However, the connection should be reason enough to reinforce the importance of proper oral hygiene and treatment of gum disease.