Weight Loss is Good for Gums
Recently researchers have found that obesity has been linked to periodontal disease. Now even more research has been discovered which proves exactly that, but on the other side of the spectrum! If obesity causes periodontitis, then weight loss can help relieve it!
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine found that because fat cells often trigger inflammation, they can cause inflammation in the gums as well. This is bad for periodontitis. But when those fat cells are removed through weight loss the inflammation is removed too!
These finsings were made during a study of thirty one people who had gum disease who were obese. In the study one half of the patients were treated for their gum disease and had gastric bypass or other surgery to remove fat cells. The other half of the patients were also treated for their gum disease but they did not have any surgery to remove their fat cells or gastric bypass.
The results also showed that those who had surgery had a loss of glucose after their surgeries, which may mean good news for those with weight related diabetes or insulin difficulties.
Since both the control group and the surgery group underwent procedures to manage their periodontal disease and had instructions for at home periodontal disease care then both groups showed improvements in their periodontal disease. However the surgery group showed the greatest improvement in their gum disease, having less bleeding of gums, lower plaque levels, and did better in measures of periodontal attachment.
Inflammation in the body is definitely something that should be cared for right away. Inflammation can cause serious long-term harm and gum disease inflammation can even erode the bone in teeth, causing tooth loss. The inflammation in gum disease can also cause open sores to form in the mouth, leaving patients vulnerable to oral bacteria entering the blood stream and making its way through the body. Having oral bacteria in the bloodstream can be particularly dangerous, especially since new research has recently found that it can cause heart disease when allowed to colonize in the heart. In addition to heart disease and heart attacks, oral bacteria have also been linked to fetal death, preterm birth, diabetes and arthritis.
Nabil Bissada, chair of the department of periodontics at Case Western Reserve School of Dental Medicine, is the lead author of this study which is titled "Response to periodontal therapy in subjects who had weight loss following bariatric surgery and obese counterparts: a pilot study." The study has been published in the Journal of Periodontology.
Researchers have two hypotheses about why the group who had surgery improved their gum disease more than the control group. The researchers believe that the first cause may be that fat cells secrete hormones that make our bodies insulin resistant. Therefore the patients had more sugar in their blood when overweight and were becoming diabetic. Diabetics are more at risk for infections and have difficulty controlling infections once they occur, therefore the improvement may have been caused by the reduced susceptibility to infection due to lowered presence of diabetes and increased insulin functioning.
The second hypothesis that the researchers had was that the hormone leptin, which regulates appetite, releases chemicals into the blood to regulate metabolism which have been linked to inflammation. Lead researcher Bissada said that the leptin production was reduced in the surgery group, which meant that inflammation was down.
Researchers for this study are very excited about the new findings and hope to continue their research. They are now planning a more in depth study of this phenomenon in order to support these preliminary results.
Questions and Answers
It's no big secret that a pearly white smile is attractive. What people might not know, however, is that bright white teeth do more than make a smile look good: they also provide dentists and oral health professionals with clues about your body's overall well-being.
Ndudi developed diabetes, and his doctor asked him to stop using honey. Diabetes is a deficiency of the pancreas, whereby insulin is not produced sufficiently or utilised properly. It is basically a disorder of metabolism, primarily that of carbohydrates.
Putting up with damaged or missing teeth is something which modern cosmetic dental dentistry has turned into a thing of the past. Dental implants will fill any gap and replace any tooth, or even teeth, in a manner which is simple, convenient and highly effective.
There are some things you may want to skimp on to save a few pennies: shoes you'll only wear once or twice, generic cereal that tastes just like the real stuff or sticky notes for your office that don't cost an arm and a leg. When it comes to your teeth and the health of your mouth, though, spare no expense. Finding dentists in Las Vegas is made easier when you know exactly what to look for.
When you are trying to decide on which dentist that you should go to in order to have a dental procedure performed, you can easily become overwhelmed by all of the choices that you will have. Chances are extremely high that there are large amounts of dentists that are practicing in your area.
The list of excuses for not brushing or flossing is endless, but according to a new study published in the Journal of Periodontology, these are two tasks that should not be omitted from the daily hygiene routine.
Researchers recently demonstrated an association between gum disease and the increased risk of stroke due to potential blockages of the main blood vessels leading to the brain (carotid artery). These blockages, or atheromas, contain calcium and can be detected on dental panoramic radiographs.
Before this Saint Patrick's Day the National Coalition of Leprechauns (NCL) is conjoining for a meeting on how they can protect their pots of gold. In years past the leprechauns have had some difficulty with keeping their gold safe from prying human eyes.
Recently a major consumer finance watchdog released reports that the government has plans to regulate previously unregulated financial firms. Now these debt collectors and credit reporting agencies are preparing themselves for the worst.
This Saint Patrick's Day thousands of people across the U.S. will be going out to celebrate with lots of delicious green foods like green cakes, green cupcakes, green chocolate, green eggs and ham, and even the popular Saint Patty's Day hit green beer.
The journal of Microbiology recently published a study containing results which suggest that we may now have the keys to preventing gum disease and tooth loss. The study says that if we can strip some oral bacteria from being able to access the other pathogenic oral bacteria then we may be able to use them to help prevent decay and loss.
New research has been released that suggests that the chemicals in our mouths that lead to halitosis, or bad breath, may be a breeding ground for stem cells which can be taken from dental pulp.
Discuss this Article
