As if you didn’t have enough to worry about … emerging science is now telling us about a new medical problem called the "Oral-Systemic Connection". That’s the scientific way of saying that bad breath and gum disease can kill you! And to think – it used to just be a joke that someone’s breath was bad enough to "kill a horse"!

Obviously there is more to the story! And since so many people have gum disease it is now becoming elevated to be an important public health problem in America and around the world.

What is inflammation? What makes it such an important factor that it is involved in such a wide range of health conditions?

The short answer is that inflammation is the body’s natural way of fighting off disease and injury. Without these natural protective responses our bodies would not be able to defend itself against the threatening outside world that constantly presses upon us. Death or great disability would be the natural outcome as our bodies would eventually succumb to hostile foreign forces.

Simple examples include the immune system reaction that happens with getting a sliver, or with the beginning stages of common gingivitis. In both examples, local tissues and cells of the immune system respond to things "foreign" to neutralize and dismiss the threat, and attempt to restore the body to health. Whether the thing(s) foreign are true ‘objects’ or are bacterial byproducts (endotoxins), the body must successfully respond to them and neutralize the threat or else suffer great consequences.

Thankfully, the human immune system does a pretty nice job at this, as is evidenced by the fact that we do as well as we do with these short-term issues. The real problem however, happens when short-term becomes chronic, and local problems progress to become general or systemic. This happens with pro-inflammation proteins are created and spill into the blood stream and then travel around in the body having a deleterious effect on other tissues and organs. This "systemic inflammation" can be measured with simple blood tests.

Chronic low-grade infections and systemic inflammation have been described as "the fire within". It happens as the body reacts to infection and inflammation somewhere in the body which persists over prolonged periods of time.

New scientific research has shown that when long-term inflammation persists in the body, bad things happen. In fact, low-grade infections and inflammation are now recognized to be at the root of heart disease, diabetes, strokes, pregnancy complications, kidney disease, certain cancers, as well as many other diseases and medical conditions. Inflammation is now recognized as being a new risk factor for many of the medical diseases and conditions which plague modern man

Type 2 diabetics have an increase in death rate from 3.7% to 28.4% (a 768% increase) when comparing diabetics with no gum disease and diabetics with severe gum disease, respectively. Periodontal disease is a strong predictor of death from heart and kidney disease. Diabetic Care 28:27-32, 2005.

As it relates to oral health, inflammation from oral sources is particularly worrisome becomes of its widespread prevalence and the stealthy manner in which it operates. The American Academy of Periodontology, states that three out of four Americans suffer from some form of gum disease – ranging from mild gingivitis to the more severe form known as periodontitis. They state that despite this prevalence, only about 3% seek treatment for their gum disease. This obviously touches many lives and makes gum disease one of the more important sources of inflammation anywhere in the body.

Gum disease is more appropriately termed "periodontal disease". Perio is Latin for "around" and dont is Latin for ‘tooth’. Periodontal is thus dealing with the anatomical tissues and structures which surround the tooth. This includes the soft gum tissues as well as the underlying jawbone which serves as the foundation for the teeth.

In a manner of thinking, each tooth can be thought of as being a foreign object that is jammed though the skin in the mouth and into the jawbone – in an environment that bathes and covers the teeth with bacteria. This foreign bacterial biofilm along with the toxins they secrete makes your teeth look foreign to your immune system and initiates the typical inflammatory reaction as the body tries to defend itself.

It’s really a perfect storm of a problem! A warm, moist, dark, well-fed environment becomes a wonderful incubator for growing the bugs which do us harm. They and their toxic by-products work themselves down around the teeth and into our gums, and initiate an immune system reaction (in an attempt to defend us) which eventually turns chronic. As it does this, it actually causes harm by destroying or eating away the gums and the supporting bone around the teeth.

When the gums become infected and inflamed, the skin cells that line the gums around the tooth begin to break down. When this happens there is an open doorway through which the bacterial pathogens and their toxic by-products have direct access to our capillaries and blood vessels – and hence find entrance into the circulatory system.

Normally and elsewhere, the intact skin does a superb job as a barrier which keeps the bugs out and protects us from a hostile world. But when the skin attachment that seals the skin to the side of a tooth begins to break down and becomes raw and ulcerated, the protective barrier is breached and there is nothing that stands between the bacteria and our bloodstream.

With this breakdown and breach in protection, dangerous bacteria and inflammatory proteins now can circulate freely in the bloodstream. These inflammatory proteins (cytokines) cause life-threatening disease and medical conditions. In response to these processes, a protein made in the liver called CRP (C-reactive protein) is produced and also enters the bloodstream. As it turns out, it significantly increases the chances of a future heart attack or stroke by affecting blood vessels and creating blood clots. In fact, recent research confirms that CRP is a stronger or better predictor for future cardiovascular events than is cholesterol alone.

For an aging population increasingly focused on reducing risk factors for heart disease and diabetes, this information couldn’t come at a better time. As physicians and dentist work with their patients they are beginning to insist that their at-risk patients keep their mouths healthy and free from gum disease.

Because this is relatively new information there are many people who are unaware of this hidden threat to their lives. Sharing this information with them could very well save a life. Periodontal disease and chronic low-grade infections around the teeth are risk factors for heart disease that can be easily addressed and controlled with appropriate care.

Find out if you are at Risk! Take the Quiz.