Link Between Heart Disease And Bleeding Gums

Bad teeth, bleeding gums and poor dental hygiene can end up causing heart disease, scientists heard at the Society for General Microbiology's Autumn meeting being held this week at Trinity College, Dublin.
People with poor dental hygiene and those who don't brush their teeth regularly end up with bleeding gums, which provide an entry to the bloodstream for up to 700 different types of bacteria found in our mouths.
This increases the risk of having a heart attack, according to microbiologists from the University of Bristol and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
"The mouth is probably the dirtiest place in the human body," said Dr Steve Kerrigan from the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland.
"If you have an open blood vessel from bleeding gums, bacteria will gain entry to your bloodstream.
When bacteria get into the bloodstream they encounter tiny fragments called platelets that clot blood when you get a cut.
By sticking to the platelets bacteria cause them to clot inside the blood vessel, partially blocking it.
This prevents the blood flow back to the heart and we run the risk of suffering a heart attack."