Health Article

Links Between Oral and General Health

As health researchers learn more about the body, oral health has become increasingly important – and often has links to other health conditions.

Problems in the mouth can signal trouble in other parts of the body.
Mouth lesions and other oral conditions may be the first sign of HIV infection, and are used to determine the stage of infection and to follow its progression to AIDS.
Studies in post-menopausal women suggest that bone loss in the lower jaw may be related to the skeletal bone loss seen in osteoporosis.

Saliva, like blood and urine, can be used to detect and measure many compounds in the body. Saliva collection has the advantage of being noninvasive.
Many medications as well as alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, opiates, and other drugs can be detected and measured in saliva. Hormones and environmental toxins can also be measured in saliva.
Saliva can be used to detect antibodies against viruses such as HIV and hepatitis A and B, as well as antibodies against bacteria like Helicobacter pylori, which causes peptic ulcers.
Saliva could potentially replace blood testing for diagnosis and monitoring of diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, alcoholic cirrhosis, and many infectious diseases.

The human mouth is home to millions of microorganisms, most of them harmless. Under certain conditions, however, some can cause oral infections such as tooth decay or gum disease. Oral bacteria may also enter the bloodstream if normal protective barriers in the mouth are breached.
Infective endocarditis results when oral bacteria enter the bloodstream and stick to the lining of diseased heart valves.
Harsh cancer treatments that damage mouth tissues can open the door to debilitating oral infections as well as systemic infections resulting from the spread of oral microorganisms.
Others at increased risk for general infections caused by oral bacteria include hospitalized patients, those who take medications that reduce saliva flow, and people taking antibiotics that alter the balance of microorganisms in the mouth.

Recent studies point to associations between oral infections – primarily gum infections – and diabetes; heart disease; stroke; and preterm, low-weight births.
Gum infections have been called “the sixth complication of diabetes,” because people with diabetes are more likely to have periodontal disease. Researchers are exploring a possible two-way connection between the conditions to see if treating gum disease improves diabetic control.
Recent studies point to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke in people with gum infections; the risk increases with the severity of the oral infection.
Some studies have found that mothers of preterm, low birth weight infants tend to have more severe gum disease than mothers of normal birth weight babies.

Source: Centers for Disease Control, www.cdc.gov