Periodontal Disease: Chicken or Egg?
This is a picture of gingivitis which means gum inflammation. That is characteristic of periodontal disease. You can see that the gums are swollen and receding around the root of the tooth. When you go to a dental office, you may hear that periodontal disease causes vascular disease, heart attack, and stroke. That seems backward to me. Obesity increases the risk of periodontal disease. Smoking really increases the risk. Those factors also increase the risk of most other chronic illnesses including vascular disease.
Under the old paradigm, periodontal disease leads to inflammation and that contributes to whole body inflammation which in turn leads to vascular disease, heart attack, and stroke. That makes some sense. Here is a different way of looking at it.
Obesity doubles the risk of periodontal disease in young people. Smoking is a very strong risk factor for periodontal disease and may increase annual cases six-fold. It is also associated with very severe ulcerative periodontal disease. This is probably the purest view of the cause. Each puff of cigarette smoke contains ten to the 15th oxidative particles. These oxidants directly switch on genes that should be inactive causing inflammation, impaired immunity, abnormal cell death, and abnormal cell growth. The optimal medical therapy interventions are all powerful antioxidants. Chaotic regulation of normal genes leads to molecular biology that damages every cell and organ in the body including periodontal tissue. Humans are whole beings, not pieces and parts.
That said, brushing teeth and cleanings are important parts of preventive maintenance just like taking your blood pressure.