Oral Bacteria can cause Heart Attack

Anyone wanting to be protected against heart attacks and strokes should not forget to brush their teeth. Scientist from United States established a connection between periodontitis (gingival inflammation) and the thickening of the carotid walls which is a result of bacterial plaque attachmented to the internal wall of the arteries. For quite some time now this thickening is a health warning for an accelerated progression of carotid atherosclerosis and incidence of stroke, myocardial infarction and cardiovascular disease death.

The bacteria Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans (Aa) is one of the 4 most violent transgressors.

The scientists in their investigation have focused on 11 out of more than 600 different types of bacteria found in the microbiota of the oral cavity. At that they succeeded in isolating the 4 most vicious pathogenic agents: Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia y Treponema denticola.

The results had been introduced by the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, which had financed and ordered it, and was then published in the Scientific Journal “Circulation”

The study of 657 elderly people in the state of New York resulted in the words of the doctor responsible for the project, Moïse Desvarieux, that "the 4 types of bacteria always came to the fore and the connection to coronary hearty disease and circulatory problems nearly exclusively seems to narrow down on those 4 bacteria".
 

Bacteria more harmful than smoking, overweight and high cholesterol

Therefore periodontitis bacteria are even more harmful than smoking, overweight and high cholesterol. From their microbiological base, the oral cavity, the bacteria are distributed through all the body and can attack among other organs the coronary arteries and the cervix in the uterus.

Inflammation of the gums also increases the risk of premature birth

A logic connection has been established between Periodontitis (gingival inflammation) and vascular disease and is well known for quite some time now. In Germany over two thirds of the population suffer from periodontitis or gingival inflammation. This increases, according to information by the Deutschen Paradontose – Hilfe in Munich, not only the risk of heart attachs and strokes but also risk of premature birth and other health risks.