In news that goes against conventional wisdom, the American Heart Association release a statement saying that gum disease hasn't been proven to cause atherosclerotic heart disease or stroke. The statement was published in Circulation, an American Heart Association (AHA) journal and the statement has been endorsed by the American Dental Association Council on Scientific Affairs (ADSA) and the World Heart Federation (WHF).
While keeping your teeth and gums healthy is important for your overall health, an AHA expert committee made up of cardiologists, dentists and infectious diseases specialists found no conclusive scientific evidence that gum disease, also known as periodontal disease, causes or increases the rates of cardiovascular diseases.
"There's a lot of confusion out there," said Peter Lockhart, D.D.S., co-chair of the statement writing group and professor and chair of oral medicine at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C. "The message sent out by some in healthcare professions that heart attack and stroke are directly linked to gum disease, can distort the facts, alarm patients and perhaps shift the focus on prevention away from well known risk factors for these diseases."
In addition, the committee found that current data didn't indicate whether regular brushing and flossing or treatment of gum disease can cut the incidence of atherosclerosis, the narrowing of the arteries that can cause heart attacks and strokes.
"Much of the literature is conflicting, but if there was a strong causative link, we would likely know that by now" Lockhart said adding that a large, long-term study would be needed to prove if dental disease causes heart disease and stroke, he said. However, such a study isn't likely to be done in the near future, and it's most important to let patients know "what we know now, and what we don't know," Lockhart said.
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