A new study out of the UCLA School of Dentistry may well convince you to take better care of your teeth and gums.
The study indicates that the more tooth and gum disease you have, the more likely your carotid arteries will be clogged.
Why worry about your carotid arteries? They are the main blood vessels that feed our brain; when they’re clogged and narrowed, your brain doesn’t get the blood flow it needs and consequently suffers.
Furthermore, when our carotid arteries are clogged, we’re more likely to suffer strokes- which take a huge toll on brain power.
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I will first note that I have not read or even seen the study “out of the UCLA School of Dentistry.” However I do find something wrong with this article. This seems to be very correlational, even by its own admission: “The study indicates that the more tooth and gum disease you have, the more likely your carotid arteries will be clogged.” Note that this is a correlation, it is not casual. Now, somthing I would like to ask… Is it possible that people who neglect oral hygiene might also neglect a healthy diet (which could contribute to clogged arteries) and/or neglect a healthy exercise regimen (which could also contribute to clogged arteries)? Exercise your critical thinking skills; Enhance your brain!
Hi Michael. Thanks for stopping by. It is good to a have critical eye for research studies.
There’s no doubt about it, the findings in the UCLA study are correlational in nature. And I suspect that, as you said, people who ignore their teeth also ignore diet, which plays a role in carotid disease.
However, correlation is often the first step in proving causation. And frequently it is by noting correlations that we advance knowledge.
Personally, I think there probably is a causal relationship though. Gum disease is periodontitis, which is a chronic inflammatory disease, and occurs even in people who eat the right foods.
People who have periodontitis have been shown to have elevated blood levels of all the markers of chronic inflammation: C-reactive protein, interleukin 6, haptoglobin, and fibrinogen.
Why is this important? It turns out hundreds of recent research studies indicate that this chronic systemic inflammatory state contributes to the development of atherosclerosis.
The UCLA study is not the first study to look at this issue. There have been numerous other studies linking periodontitis to atherosclerosis, heart attack, stroke, as well as pregnancy complications, and even some intervention trials that show periodontal therapy may improve markers of cardiovascular health.