Of Hearts & Mouths: How Oral Infections Link To Cardiometabolic Diseases
Many indigenous people, like some famous native Americans, employ the phrase ‘speaking from the heart’:
“Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows.”
― Native American Proverb
What Are Cardiometabolic Diseases?
“Cardiometabolic diseases are a group of common but often preventable conditions including heart attack, stroke, diabetes, insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. There is a global increase in the number of people who experience one or more of these conditions during their lifetime. Smoking, lack of exercise, drinking a lot of alcohol and eating an unhealthy diet are recognised as the four main drivers of this rise. The high socioeconomic cost of cardiometabolic conditions to low, middle-income and wealthy countries make tackling these conditions critical to the health of our whole communities in the future.”
– Ed.Ac.Uk
The Oral Care Correlation To Cardiometabolic Disease
The emergence of the link between poor oral hygiene and the prevalence of cardiometabolic disease is still fairly new. Therefore scientists are not definitively declaring which is the chicken and which is the egg. What they are identifying is the association between the two. We know that the mouth and oral infections can provide a pathway into the inner workings of the body, as in the case of pneumonia and other respiratory infections.
“Progressed oral infections and inflammations — endodontic lesions and periodontitis — are known to be associated with an increased risk of cardiometabolic diseases. Although the mechanisms behind these associations are partially unclear, poor oral health is probably sustaining systemic inflammation.”
1. A. Salminen, A.M. Määttä, P. Mäntylä, J. Leskelä, M. Pietiäinen, K. Buhlin, A.L. Suominen, S. Paju, W. Sattler, J. Sinisalo, P.J. Pussinen. Systemic Metabolic Signatures of Oral Diseases. Journal of Dental Research, 2023; DOI: 10.1177/00220345231203562
A recent study from researchers at the University of Helsinki, Karolinska Institute, and from the Medical University of Graz, which was published in the Journal of Dental Research, observed the association between oral infections and adverse metabolic health profiles. The study was made up of 453 middle-aged and elderly patients. Periodontitis was particularly linked to the prevalence of inflammatory cardiometabolic conditions. Tooth decay via caries were associated with future adverse metabolites.
“Oral infections may partially explain unhealthy lipid profiles,” says Adjunct Professor Aino Salminen from the University of Helsinki.
Adjunct Professor Kåre Buhlin from Karolinska Institute concludes: “Oral infections represent a significant risk factor for systemic health. Importantly, they are modifiable through early prevention and treatment.”
– Science Daily
The presentation of two previously unrelated things here is not without some basis in fact. Poor dental hygiene is most often a result of neglect by the individual. There can be multiple reasons for this neglect, as in economic constraints, lack of dental services in regional areas, and general ignorance stemming from a variety of circumstances. However, this neglect can also involve ‘giving up’ and often is accompanied by the four main lifestyle drivers of cardiometabolic disease. Smoking, excessive alcohol intake, unhealthy eating, and a lack of exercise are all lifestyle manifestations of those individuals who no longer care about their health and wellbeing. What goes into the mouths and what comes out of the mouths of these individuals is testament to nihilistic attitudes to life and living. Cynicism and indifference leaks from these individuals like malfunctioning engines. Whether it be from a broken heart, loss of ambition and purpose in life, or some other form of depression this state of being profoundly impacts upon both oral health and general health more widely. A materialistic lifestyle bereft of deeper meaning, sans a spiritual dimension, can render individuals rudderless and minus motivation. Combine this with a sense of economic failure from a life lived without material success and looking after one’s oral health disappears from the list of priorities. Dentists telling these folk to brush their teeth and floss religiously falls upon deaf ears. Science can find the dry details in the data about correlations between poor oral hygiene and the prevalence of cardiometabolic disease but understanding the why of it, is, so far, beyond it. Perhaps those indigenous peoples had an insight into the human heart no matter the colour of our skin. We may rue the fact that we killed and crushed them to steal their land and did not listen to what they had to say.
“So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none. When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.
When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.”
– Chief Tecumseh
In Australia:
“In 2020–21, an estimated 9.5% of total allocated expenditure in the Australian health system ($14.3 billion) was attributed to cardiovascular disease.”
– AIHW.gov.au
In The USA:
“This translates to $50.4 billion in CMD costs (18.2% of total) for the whole population, of which 84.3% are attributed to acute care ($42.6 billion).”
– NCBI.com
How oral infections link to cardiometabolic diseases can tell us things about ourselves and our culture. Sadly, many people are giving up and have given up. We meet quite a few of these people in our daily lives and at work, down the pub, and at the footy. Some of them present with a bravado of not giving a damn about things. Eventually this catches up with them, often sooner than they think, as middle age quickly morphs into something far more disabling. Then, we as a society have to carry the can for them in terms of their steep medical bills and providing carers for their desultory decades to come. If we do not demand enough from our citizens and they disappoint themselves and their families entropy soon reigns supreme. Decay and the dreadful waste of human energy is the outcome. Nature has its own way of dealing with stagnation in the form of pandemics and human nature cyclically turns to wars to reinvigorate things – but stagnation is even worse for the individual than the collective. For the dispossessed, the lonely, the broken, dental health is often the least of their priorities.
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Services We Mentioned:
Comprehensive Examination & Dental Hygiene
General Dentistry
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