Taking better care of your teeth and gums can cut the risk of developing more than 50 conditions and diseases including dementia and arthritis, a science conference has been told.
Experts recommended brushing your teeth up to three times a day to maintain oral hygiene and warned that those who do not exacerbate the risk of harmful conditions around the body, including in our brains and joints.
One expert claimed that British people had “third-world” levels of tooth and gum health because of our sugary, processed diets.
Bacteria from infected gums can spread around the body and may be able to cross the barrier between the blood and the brain, potentially increasing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia, said Alpdogan Kantarci, a professor of dentistry at the University of Minnesota, at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Phoenix, Arizona.
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Dr Felipe Andrade, a medicine professor at Johns Hopkins University, said in a presentation that the bacteria pathogens responsible for periodontitis, or serious gum disease, had been linked to the development of rheumatoid arthritis.
Dr Nobuhiko Kamada, from the University of Michigan’s department of internal medicine, said that bacteria from the mouth could affect the “microbiome” of beneficial bacteria living in our guts, which could increase the risk of bowel disease and colorectal cancer.
“We now think that maintaining your teeth in health may be associated with a reduced risk of more than 50 systemic conditions,” Kantarci said at an event called The Mouth as a Gateway to Overall Health, at which researchers warned: “Recent evidence suggests the oral cavity can influence health in other organs, including the joints, brain and gut.”
It was not necessarily the case that gum disease directly caused the conditions, but there appeared to be a link, he said. Some research suggested that persistent gum disease led the body’s immune system to exist in a state of perpetual readiness or inflammation, which could cause irritation to the brain.
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“Research is now showing that in people with mild or moderate diseases, those who are brushing and taking care of their teeth or seeing a dentist and having advanced cleanings, are showing much better cognitive responses.”
He said that “unfortunately the UK is not so much different than a third-world country in terms of oral care”, noting that although the “Western world has better access to oral care”, we also had much more harmful diets.
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The proportion of adults with tooth decay fell from 46 per cent to 28 per cent between 1998 and 2009, according to the Oral Health Survey for England, but then climbed again, reaching 41 per cent in the most recent 2023 data. About 93 per cent of people had at least one sign of oral disease, such as inflammation or tartar build-up.
“The answer is very clear, that we have to improve oral health awareness for systemic health,” Kantarci said. He forms part of a team of researchers trying to assess the economic impact of poor oral health and the benefits of encouraging people to improve their brushing and flossing.
He said people should brush at least two, and even three, times a day, with the pre-bedtime brush the most important, adding that those who struggled should turn to electric toothbrushes and also make sure to brush their tongues.
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