Sunday, April 5, 2020

Lung Infections and Gum Disease

Lung Infections and Gum Health Or Disease

I found an interesting abstract in PubMed about respiratory disease and gum disease.
It appears that gum health (or lack of it) has some relationship to lung infections.  
The conclusion of the abstract:  "The findings of the present analysis support an association between respiratory and periodontal disease..."

Here is a link to the abstract if you care to read it:    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21219100

I remember when I wrote my book about gum disease 12 years ago, that there was a seeming relationship between gum disease and lung infections - and a number of other diseases as well. 

Research continues. We don't draw definitive conclusions.  But we also don't have to in order to take action that may be beneficial. 

If farmers and ancient people knew that livestock were not good if there mouths were not healthy, it makes sense that researchers of today would start to notice this association too. 

Gum disease is believed to be related to so many other health problems.  The question becomes, which comes first, the chicken or the egg?  That question doesn't currently have a definitive answer.  But I can tell you one quick story.   A doctor called me, he was an anesthesiologist.  He bought a HydroFloss and we got to talking about what he does.  He worked in cardiac surgery.   He mentioned that nearly all of the heart patients they operated on had rather advanced periodontal disease (gum disease).  

Some thoughts to ponder.  The gum tissue in our mouth is rather thin.  That tissue has many blood vessels supplying it.   If there is an infection, like gum disease, it could act as a chronic wellspring that allows bacteria into your bloodstream. 

I remember reading that when analyzing the plaque that occurs around the heart when arteries are diseased, that p. gingivalis - an oral bacteria known for causing gum disease was found in that heart plaque.   

That being the case, that could easily count as a reason why the health of the mouth is related to the health of the rest of the body.  

Bottom line:  Just an opinion, but it would seem prudent to keep on Hydro Flossing.


Stay Healthy and Well! 

PS:  Life is short and we all want to remain healthy to enjoy our years on Earth.   I have found these gentle and relaxing exercises to be helpful in that regard:   https://en.falundafa.org/falun-dafa-video-audio.html