We are more convinced now than ever of the importance of healthy gums. The easiest way for you to tell if there is a gum problem is to look for bleeding gums. If you brush your teeth – and I mean brush them well with particular attention to the area where the teeth meet the gums, and floss the areas in between the teeth – there should be no bleeding. Healthy gums do not bleed. Over the years, we have all come to accept some bleeding as normal since the general public sees it all the time. The fact is, it might be common, but it’s a sign of a problem – a problem that is too often ignored. If any other part of our digestive tract bled on a regular basis, it would get a lot more attention.
The reason it is so important is because of the bacteria in the mouth. Bleeding means there is a breach in the seal that keeps the inside of the body sterile. The blood is getting out through a leak in the capillary walls. Blood gets out. Bacteria get in. These gum disease bacteria have been found in cardiac arteries in heart attack patients, in the brains of stroke patients, and in the cholesterol-thickened blocked blood vessels of cardio-vascular disease. As if that wasn’t bad enough, there’s more.
The reason gums bleed is because the presence of these bacteria trigger a response by the body’s immune system.
In many cases, that response is not limited to the gums. This challenge to the immune system causes a whole body response. Blood sugar control is affected in diabetics and pre-diabetics. Fetus development is affected in pregnant women which can lead to low weight, pre-term deliveries. And there’s more. That’s the back story.
That’s why we are so concerned. Gum disease is about a whole lot more than teeth. The exciting part is that we have new diagnostic tools and treatment modalities. We can now predict who is at risk for periodontitis before we see clinical signs of the disease. We have treatment options that can avoid the need for gum surgery. We are light years beyond the time when all we could do is lecture our patients to brush and floss better.
If you see blood in the sink after you brush, just imagine the nasty critters swimming into your blood stream through the breach in the dam. Then give The Art of Dentistry by Stephen J Gershberg, DMD a call at 610-789-1001. It really could save your life.
