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Poor Oral Health May Increase Gut Inflammation

Sep, 2020

Poor oral hygiene may lead to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which affects around 3 million adults in the United States alone.

Poor oral hygiene is a reflection of an individual’s overall health. Poor oral health may lead to dental cavities and gum disease and has also been associated with diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. Many people visit dentists because of such problems. However, now, a new research showed that doing so can have consequences beyond the cavity and the root canal. The research was published in the Cell journal. Poor oral hygiene could be a cause of systemic disease, a disease that affects other parts of the body, or even the whole body.

The new study by the research team from the University of Michigan suggests that poor oral hygiene may lead to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which affects around 3 million adults in the United States alone. Inflammatory bowel disease includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Extensive animal studies have uncovered two possible mechanisms by which oral bacteria can increase intestinal inflammation in IBD. During this research, the researchers found a connection between gastrointestinal disease and poor oral health. The trillions of bacteria living inside the human body affects the general health of an individual.

The team directly focused on the gut microbiome and found that oral bacteria can influence the human body. Moreover, some recent studies have also discovered a strong connection between hypertension and poor oral health. A team of researchers has even shown how oral bacteria regulate beneficial blood pressure-lowering methods immediately after direct exercise. Over the past few years, researchers around the world have been trying to find a link between IBD and periodontitis. The present study confirmed the importance of this relationship, however, the workability of this relationship is still not established.