BBC News - Key reason 'found' for gum and heart disease link

spudpundit,

I first heard about this phenomena in about 1998. I didn't believe it at all - after all, people who don't brush their teeth also (probably) don't exercise, eat right, etc.

My friend, who ran Colgate-Palmolive's research facility at the time disagreed. He thought there really was something to the relationship between gum disease, inflammation, and heart disease. Looks like he was right.

Guess I'll stick to physics...

spudpundit,

ALWAYS open to new data!

The sad part about this in America is that not only do many people not have any health insurance but even among those who do, dental care is rarely included. This is really showing that it can be life and death how someone's teeth are cared for. All the brushing in the world won't help when teeth are rotting in one's mouth. Another reason for universal health care in the US, including dental and eye care.

we don't have dental either. One of my kids has very soft teeth. We are still paying off the dentist for cavities. My MIL also had her teeth pulled because that was the only choice. She did get dentures though on medicare. Is that by state?

Maybe its medicaid, the one you get when you are older.

spudpundit,

I must say that I found the science behind this article to be simply amazing. I've been thinking about it all afternoon, and it makes complete sense to me now.

I love scientific research. Thanks so much for seeding this link. I don't know if I would have seen it otherwise.

it also goes to show why when we mess with our bodies in one part we get unintended consequences aka side effects that we never counted on. And that is just the system of a relatively (compared to bacteria say) from of life on one planet.

sure does, as right now we seem to use the sledgehammer method when dealing with bacteria, maybe it is a mistake.

I think you are right about that. We just go in and kill everything and then wonder why things went wrong. I know without bacteria in your gut, you basically starve . So I think we need them to break down our food so we can absorb vitamins and other stuff too. I am going to read your article now. Sounds interesting.

Read it. That really is fascinating. This really points to the idea that maybe instead of antibiotics, we might be able to find ways to get the bacteria that are making us sick, wipe themselves out, leaving the benign or beneficial bacterial in tact.