Reduce stroke risk with better oral hygiene

[secondtry]

Those concerned about strokes either on anti-coats or not may be interested in this article dental-tribune.com/articles...

[jennydog]

Thank you for this. My dentist decided that I had "gum disease" by 3 teeth at the bottom front. This is apparently evidenced by "pockets" due to age-related recession. This is where the term " long in the tooth" comes from. I now have extra visits to the hygienist.

I want to make the point that I do not have bleeding gums or noticeable inflammation and the teeth look very clean. I think the answer is regular dental check-ups and awareness about potential problems.

[CDreamer]

Thank you for posting - my dentist also treated me for gum disease whilst informing me of the link between gum disease and heart disease and was very specific about oral hygiene - it is her mission in life I think!

I knew about the risks but very interesting about the specific mechanisms which I didn't really know about, thanks for posting.

Booking another hygienist appointment as we speak and getting the gargle out!

[BobD Volunteer]

The link between dental infection and endocarditis is well know and I have mentioned it many times here. When I had my second ablation there was a young man in the bed opposite who had it as a result of a botched wisdom tooth extraction . He was still there three month later and although ten years later he is still alive he has never fully recovered.

My (private ) dentist tells me that my gum problems are the result of 60 years of NHS dentistry due the the fact that they do no proactive /preventative treatment on NHS. I am now on three monthly hygiene visits.

[meadfoot]

All this adds even more weight to Jeanjeannies assertion that her af was impacted by a dental problem. I agree totally with her.

[seasider18]

Look and read about the late Queen Mothers black teeth and she lived to about 102.

[Offcut]

Interesting article. It appears in Ancient times more people died because of teeth related issues than anything else?

[jeanjeannie50]

It's just fascinating how more and more medical discoveries are being made with relation to the heart and it's malfunction.

As most people on here probably remember, my AF disappeared 6 months ago after I had a molar tooth (that had a root infection) extracted. No one could have been more fastidious with their teeth than me. I have tooth aids galore including a Waterpik (shoots water between the teeth and gets bits out you wouldn't have known were there) and a toothbrush sterilizing machine. Then of course I have all the other general aids.

I think the infection in my tooth was getting to my heart via the blood supply in my gums and I guess it had been simmering in the root for years. It certainly never bled from that area that I was aware of, though oddly the tooth above did bleed at times - hmmm. I feel sure any infection in the body elsewhere could probably have an effect on the heart too.

Does anyone else have AF and tooth stories to tell?

Jean

[MarkS]

It's not just stroke risk that can be reduced by good dental hygiene, but the risk of AF itself. See:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/234...

"The risk of AF was lower in subjects receiving dental scaling. Improvement of oral hygiene by dental scaling may be a simple and useful way to prevent AF." The risk of AF was reduced by a third in the study.

[secondtry]

I now take once or twice a week 1gm of Vit C in good absorbent form as a precaution to help fight any inflammation levels reaching a tipping point that causes an issue be it AF or anything else.