Care for Your Heart and Mind Brush and Floss Your Teeth

Brushing and flossing your teeth daily does more than help prevent cavities, periodontal (gum) disease and bad breath. According to the American Academy of Periodontology, having healthy teeth and gums also lowers your risk of heart disease and stroke. And now researchers at West Virginia University have found a clean mouth may also do something else – prevent memory loss.

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"This could have great implications for the health of our aging populations. With rates of Alzheimer’s skyrocketing, imagine the benefits of knowing that keeping the mouth free of infection could cut down on cases of dementia," said Richard Crout, D.M.D., Ph.D., an expert on gum disease and associate dean for research in the WVU School of Dentistry, in a statement to the media. "Older people might want to know there’s more reason to keep their mouths clean – to brush and floss – than ever."

How could the health of your mouth have an impact on your heart and your brain health? No one knows for sure but one theory is that bacteria found in the mouth can enter the blood stream through bleeding, inflamed gums. Then these germs may end up attached to fatty plaques in the coronary arteries and contribute to stroke and heart attack causing-blood clots. The same process might damage the brain, too.

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June 25, 2009