The Link Between Periodontitis And Obesity

It is becoming more and more clear the more we study the human body that everything is indeed linked with each other. Decline of one organ or aspect of the body will necessarily in turn lead to decline and damage in the rest of the body as well. This is something that traditional medicine relied on in many places, and after the much more effective and scientifically grounded, so-called “Western medicine” came about, with its myriad of beneficial things came the negative thing that this aspect, this understanding of the body as a whole and treating as such was lost.

New Beginnings

But this form of medicine has one crucial very important thing about it thats ets it aside from all other forms of medicine; it learns from its mistakes, and constantly changes to incorporate new facts around it and reacts to it. This is how it has come full circle, and is now learning that indeed, the human body is an entity and a whole, and sometimes, to get to the problem of a problem, it needs to be treated as such.

One of the places where this is incredibly obvious is the realm of dentistry. Dental plaque is found in blocked arteries in patients suffering from atherosclerosis, bowel cancers are found to be triggered by bacteria that cause immune reactions in the gingiva, and sepsis and bone infection very often start from an untreated bacterial infection in the deeper tooth structures. The oral cavity is also a good indicator of a compromised immune system, as it will be the first thing to start to be infected, inflamed, and in general awry. And when something is amiss, one of the first places to check- for instance for a general condition or an infection with an unknown cause- is in the mouth.

Obesity

It turns out that having problems with obesity will translate into more dental problems as well. According to a string of studies from King’s College, England, people who are obese have much higher instances of periodontitis and gum disease. And a recent study from London also proves that those suffering from obesity react significantly worse to periodontal surgery, taking longer to recover, and having much high rates of infection. What is more, obese patients reacted poorly to non surgical periodontal treatments as well.

This should be no surprise. If your body’s immune system is constantly taxed and over stretched form handling minor problems, it will not be able to handle its tasks as well, and the first place for an opportunistic infection of this sort will most likely be in the oral cavity. Hence the slower reaction times and the prevalence of periodontal disease. So if you are overweight, it is of utmost importance that you be very circumspect in your at home oral care, not to mention being good with keeping your half year check ups, and make an effort to try and exercise and lose the extra weight, as it will only end up harming you, in more ways than one.

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