A study just published by the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology suggests that there may be a link with poor dental hygiene and AF/heart problems:
sciencedaily.com/releases/2...
I know I have had issues with gum disease over the past few years - anyone else here had serious problems with their teeth?
Hi Barny
Read what I think about this in my old post here:
healthunlocked.com/afassoci...
Wow, that's really interesting. How are you now, 2 years on?
Well having attacks of AF every 4-6 weeks has stopped. For some reason I can go most of the summer with no AF (about 6 months) then back it comes constantly for winter around the end of Oct/Nov. I'm still trying to work out why that is!
Jean
Very similar to me, though hopefully not this year after ablation in February, fingers crossed. I think it is something to do with our diet and lack of vitamin D but that’s not based on anything other than the changes we all go through at this time of year and being deprived of sunlight.
I supplement with Vitamin D, have for quite a few year, so don't feel it can be that.
Hi Jean. I have just read your old post and all the replies (!). I only found this forum earlier this year so had not read it at the time. My AF was first diagnosed in 2011 and no cause has ever been attributed although I have always thought it was following a chest infection. Unfortunately, it took me a while being into my AF journey before I started keeping records but I did have a root canal several years’ ago but can’t remember exactly when. I have a dental check up scheduled for 16/12 so will ask when it was and see if there is any possibility that it was around the time my AF started and also see if there is any chance it could still be infected. My dentist at that time is no longer there but I remember asking him once if there was any connection between hearts and teeth as I had at once time a chart of teeth which showed how teeth linked to the different meridians in Chinese medicine. Not sure what happened to the chart as I can’t find it now and I did ask an Accupuncturist once about the connection and she said there wasn’t any but I know there are different strands of Chinese Medicine so who knows? I think it was the two front teeth at the top which linked to the heart Meridian which I lost some years’ ago but not sure now. My AF is now permanent I think and I also now have HF and had a CRT-p implanted a few weeks’ ago which does not so far seem to have made any difference to anything but I go for a check up on 5/12 so will see what they say.
The link between poor dental hygeine and heart problems is well know I thought. Some years ago when I was in Royal Brompton a young man was opposite me with endocarditis as a result of a botched wisdom tooth extraction. I used to visit him every time I had an OP appointment as he was there for many many months having IV antibiotics until eventually he was allowed home. It took him a year to recover as far as he was going to.!
Here in UK NHS dentistry does not address gum problems and it was not until I moved house and had to go privately that I discovered how bad my gums had become. The saying long in the tooth is not for nothing!
I now have three monthly deep clean with the hygienist but sadly it is only delaying the inevitable for the few I still have left.
Remember if your gums ever bleed you have a problem. Anticoagulants do not make your gums bleed. Gingivitis does!
Yes, I thought I remembered hearing something a few years ago about a link between dental hygiene and heart problems. I wonder if AF could be caused by something as simple as a specific bacterial infection - in the way that stomach ulcers were discovered to be caused by the helicobacter pylori bacteria after many years of assuming that they had been caused by stress?
It has been known for many years, I trained as a dental assistant in the 70s and the link was in all the text books then !
The best supplement for stopping bleeding gums is Co enzyme Q 10. Perhaps not coincidence that this is a heart supplement. Although I clean and floss my teeth every day I hardly ever go to the dentist as I hate having to explain to the sceptical medical professionals here why I will not touch any product with fluoride in it and the polishing stuff is full of it . I buy non fluoride toothpaste. I have taken Co Q 10 for many years and my gums never bleed. My husband has recently started taking it. He did have a problem with bleeding gums but since starting on it is much improved.
Heart disease in general as well as overall health.
I had gum disease 2093-4 & was advised by my dental consultant of the link then so I am now diligent with hygiene. Most dentists are very aware of the link.
I have AF and awful gum problems, 3 extractions for implants plus an major tooth infection in the last 6 months and I am diligent with oral hygiene, but yes wouldn't surprise me if there was a link . NHS dental service is a total joke so gone private at great expense, the NHS in my experience are quite happy to let you walk around with a chronic tooth infection and do next to nothing about it except tell you they cant treat it and to go private, utter disgrace !
Andy
Yes it has been known about for some time. The culprit is P Gingivalis which is a very pernicious bacteria. As well as inflaming the lining of the heart, it is also believed to cause Alzheimer's. See this post from a few months ago:
Hi Barny, yes I think there is a link. When my AF started I was visiting the dentist a lot and didn't look after my teeth very well resulting in 5 Root canals. I have spent a small fortune upgrading fillings with onlays etc since and now look after my teeth religiously. AF is rare for me today but as you know it is difficult to attribute the two, you can only act on gut feel and I would advise any AF sufferer to get their teeth 100% as an early prevention step.
yes - terrible problems with gum disease for a couple of years prior to my first PAF attack (I felt possibly due to the high levels of stress and exhaustion linked to work) - a few days before the 1st attack I had a 40min dentists local anaesthetic after they broke a tooth below gum level and were unable to get it out due to L shaped root. I felt odd on a walk 2 days after the dentistry and within another 2 days had my first type 2 MI/PAF.
Another complicating factor was 2 months earlier I had unrecognised (by GP) double rib fracture and chest infection and had been on high doses of Naproxen.
So I'm not really sure what may have triggered it.
Well, having been a Complementary Therapist for 22yrs having taken anatomy & physiology exams and post grad learning, I have heard that bad teeth and gum hygiene does affect the heart. The mouth is full of bacteria and if your oral hygiene is not good the bacteria would be much increased. There is a very important set of valves in the chest. The bacteria will be in the blood and will travel to the heart. Another thing that affects heat is the gut, which is considered the 2nd brain.
My father had terrible teeth, as children they didn’t have the money to go to a dentist. He, like most working class men, smoked and liked his beer. He had also the stress of his own business and a family. Taking all into consideration, he had a fall from his factory ceiling ‘we think’, died at 50 from strokes.
I believe bad oral hygiene does contribute.
August 2018 up to October I paid for a deep clean of my teeth. I was a bit concerned about my reactions to this. At the time I had not been diagnosed with AF. In September of the same year I started having palpitations, some lasting 2 hours. I had a 24 hour monitor but this showed nothing significant. Throughout the year I would get the odd palpitation but again nothing major. On September 1st this year I was trying to bring my husband out of a severe hypo, type 1 diabetes but had to call an ambulance. With all the going back and forth I collapsed at top of the stairs and found to have AF. I have since had good oral hygiene but I wonder if the initial v deep cleaning set it off. Not an answer but just relating experience.
I have persistent AF amongst other heart problems including heart failure
I have had gum problems for over 20 years and had loads of treatment, my current Denist is absolutely sure it is linked with heart problems and so Am I
My father lost his teeth through gum disease and he had AF as well so I don’t think there is a doubt to the link, I have my teeth cleaned professionally every 3 months now
Don’t know if it will help but it can’t do any harm at least you will stop bacterial infection getting into the blood
I doubt that gums are a trigger to Afib. But this is for sure:
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After 9 years of trying different foods and logging EVERYTHING I ate, I found sugar (and to a lesser degree, salt – i.e. dehydration) was triggering my Afib. Doctors don't want to hear this - there is no money in telling patients to eat less sugar. Each person has a different sugar threshold - and it changes as you get older, so you need to count every gram of sugar you eat every day (including natural sugars in fruits, etc.). My tolerance level was 190 grams of sugar per day 8 years ago, 85 grams a year and a half ago, and 60 grams today, so AFIB episodes are more frequent and last longer (this is why all doctors agree that afib gets worse as you get older). If you keep your intake of sugar below your threshold level your AFIB will not happen again (easier said than done of course). It's not the food - it's the sugar (or salt - see below) IN the food that's causing your problems. Try it and you will see - should only take you 1 or 2 months of trial-and-error to find your threshold level. And for the record - ALL sugars are treated the same (honey, refined, agave, natural sugars in fruits, etc.). I successfully triggered AFIB by eating a bunch of plums and peaches one day just to test it out. In addition, I have noticed that moderate (afternoon) exercise (7-mile bike ride or 5-mile hike in the park) often puts my Afib heart back in to normal rhythm a couple hours later. Don’t know why – perhaps you burn off the excess sugars in your blood/muscles or sweat out excess salt?? I also found that strenuous exercise does no good – perhaps you make yourself dehydrated??
I'm pretty sure that Afib is caused by a gland(s) - like the Pancreas or Thyroid - or an organ that, in our old age, is not working well anymore and excess sugar or dehydration is causing them to send mixed signals to the heart - for example telling the heart to beat fast and slow at the same time - which causes it to skip beats, etc. I can't prove that (and neither can my doctors), but I have a very strong suspicion that that is the root cause of our Afib problems. I am working on this with a Nutritionist and hope to get some definitive proof in a few months.
Also, in addition to sugar, if you are dehydrated - this will trigger AFIB as well. It seems (but I have no proof of this) that a little uptick of salt in your blood is being treated the same as an uptick of sugar - both cause AFIB episodes. (I’m not a doctor – it may be the sugar in your muscles/organs and not in your blood, don’t know). In any case you have to keep hydrated, and not eat too much salt. The root problem is that our bodies are not processing sugar/salt properly and no doctor knows why, but the AFIB seems to be a symptom of this and not the primary problem, but medicine is not advanced enough to know the core reason that causes AFIB at this time. You can have a healthy heart and still have Afib – something inside us is triggering it when we eat too much sugar or get (even a little) dehydrated. Find out the core reason for this and you will be a millionaire and make the cover of Time Magazine! Good luck! - Rick Hyer
PS – there is a study backing up this data you can view at:
https//cardiab.biomedcentral.com/a...
And Oh - if you find that your sugar threshold is lower than 50 grams a day - it's nearly impossible to eat less than that each day, which will keep you in permanent Afib. If this is the case, try going to a Nutrition Response Tester. I am doing this and she has improved my gland processing such that we have increased my sugar threshold from 48 grams a day to about 75, which is high enough to stay under - and keep afib from happening (unless I indulge in a sweet something – which I do too often). Hope this helps.
Thanks, found this useful
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