Dental link to heart disease

REGULAR tooth-brushing can reduce the danger of suffering serious heart problems, according to the findings of Irish medical researchers.

A team of experts from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) has highlighted how poor dental hygiene can increase the risk of heart disease.

A study, which was funded by the Health Research Board, shows how bleeding gums can present a serious health threat by allowing dangerous bacteria to enter the bloodstream.

Head researcher Dr Steve Kerrigan of the RCSI’s school of pharmacy and his team examined how oral bacteria stick to blood platelets — the cells in blood that help to form clots. Dr Kerrigan explained the sticking of such bacteria to platelets results in the partial blocking of the blood vessel. “This can prevent the blood flow back to the heart and heightens the risk of heart attack,” he said.

Dr Kerrigan pointed out there were more than 500 different species of bacteria in the average mouth.

“The mouth is probably the dirtiest place in the human body,” he said.

The researchers identified two proteins or receptors in oral bacteria that they believe play a large role in allowing the bacteria to recognise and stick to blood platelets.

Dr Kerrigan said the fresh insight into how oral bacteria affected blood vessels could help with the development of therapies to treat heart disease.

“However, all this can be avoided with proper dental hygiene by brushing and flossing regularly,” he said.

Details of the study’s findings were announced as part of the annual RCSI research day.

A separate piece of RCSI research highlighted the limitation of some popular treatments for preventing heart attacks. It revealed some common medications such as aspirin and plavix, which are routinely used to prevent heart disease, were ineffective with some patients. RCSI researchers have developed a test that provides an improved measure of the effectiveness of such treatments. Tests on 200 patients showed 30% still had increased stickiness in their blood platelets, despite regularly taking such medication.

The study concluded the test could improve the identification of patients at high risk of suffering a cardiac arrest.