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It's real science. Bacteria in your mouth can enter the bloodstream through wounds and travel to your heart. //EDIT: Apparently, although the association betwe
by Ives 14y ago
It's real science. Bacteria in your mouth can enter the bloodstream through wounds and travel to your heart.
//EDIT: Apparently, although the association between gum disease and heart disease seems to be science, the causal link is not.
- cma 14y agoWhat about wounds caused by flossing irregularly?
- euroclydon 14y agoSeriously, and flossing undoubtedly pushes some food particles beneath the gum line.
- run4yourlives 14y agowut? You sure it isn't that people who floss tend to also be people that take better care of their bodies overall, and hence the two, while correlated, aren't an example of cause and effect.
- Ives 14y agoEhm, I'll admit that at this time no causal link is established although there is a correlation [1]. I've come to realize that I don't have a good source for what I wrote earlier. Sources like [2] do claim a causal link but I was unable to find the actualy study. [1] http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=193088#qundefined http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=193088#qu... [2] http://abcnews.go.com/Health/dental-screenings-linked-lower-heart-disease-stroke-risk/story?id=14936485 http://abcnews.go.com/Health/dental-screenings-linked-lower-...
- run4yourlives 14y agoTo be clear, I don't want to discount the studies completely, because there does seem to be a little bit of smoke there. That said any real conclusions are clearly premature for the data, as science reporting tends to be these days.
- mylittlepony 14y agoIsn't that what the Lymphatic System is for? Bacteria do not simply enter the bloodstream, that would be a serious infection.
- hackinthebochs 14y agoIt's not about bacteria entering your bloodstream (if that happened you'd have bigger problems), its the inflammation caused by your body fighting the bacteria influencing other organs. Inflammation isn't an acute action, the signalling molecules involved travel around the entire body. This can cause inflammation in completely unrelated areas. The heart is highly susceptible to this since all your blood travels through it.