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by KRISTIN LARMORE
Lifestyles Reporter
A little white string is more important than you might think.
“If stranded on a desert island, you’d want to have aspirin and floss and you’ll be good,” D.M.D. and periodontist Richard M. Forbes said.
Forbes practices in Boone.
According to a forum of 86 students on theapp.appstate.edu, 52 percent of students said they never floss.
 Some dentists and researchers say built-up plaque, also called tartar, enters your bloodstream through capillary beds in your mouth and has potential to clog arteries over the long-run. Photo by Holt Menzies.
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Only about 13 percent said they floss everyday, while the rest floss between one and three times per week.
However,
many do not know about periodontal disease, a severe bacterial gum
infection following gingivitis caused by a buildup of tartar,
irremovable without the help of a dentist.
It plays a role in the leading cause of death in this country: heart disease.
“For a
long time, we’ve known that periodontal disease, a bacterial infection,
may contribute to infective endocarditis- a possibly fatal condition in
which the interior lining of the heart and heart valves inflame due to
bacterial buildup,” according to the American Academy of Periodontology.
This
disease can lead to heart attack and stroke when bacteria inflame the
blood vessel wall and blocks arteries, but flossing can help.
Forbes said floss cleans 100 percent of teeth surfaces, while a toothbrush only reaches 50 percent.
Mike W. Atkinson has about 27 years in the field and worked at Healthco International with Forbes.
“Younger adults don’t and older adults don’t [floss]. The middle age do,” he said.
The
young don’t think they need to worry, while the older worry more about
medical care and sometimes assume they can’t do much to improve oral
care later in life, Atkinson explained.
“The
relationship is that if you have periodontal disease, then you’re more
likely to be susceptible to those types of diseases,” Forbes said while
drilling. “Basically, flossing is a much better way to clean the teeth
than brushing.”
The damage is systematically created between teeth, and flossing keeps bacteria low all the way around.
A broad
spectral antibiotic isn’t the answer, as Forbes said research still
couldn’t isolate which type of bacteria causes periodontal disease.
Students must understand, too, that once you get gum disease, you can only treat and control it rather than eliminate it.
Plus, Forbes mentioned plaque causes bad breath.
If students don’t believe him, he said they should get some on their fingertip and smell it.
Both
Forbes and Boone D.D.S. Curtis R. Page, who refers his patients to
Forbes’ neighboring periodontal office, expressed a difference of
opinion on the direct correlation between heart disease and gum
disease.
Forbes said, “There’s not a direct causal relationship.”
It’s more likely, not definite, that one with gum disease would have heart disease.
The mouth is just a “good indicator.”
The plaque itself does not travel from the gums to the arteries, but the infection can.
“It’s
quicker and more obvious to see if you’re a heavy plaque producer in
your mouth. That gives you a heads up about what type of plaque
producer you’re going to be in your arteries,” Forbes said.
This is because our body is one system.
Page,
however, said the bacteria leaks into the capillary beds around and
under teeth when you chew or visit the dentist, for example, and
travels to the bloodstream.
He said between the top and bottom of your gum line, there are 2 millimeters.
When you go to the dentist, you get a “tremendous injection of your own bacteria.”
However, you do not die because your body recognizes its own bacteria and knows how to fight it.
Page believes plaque from the mouth can sit on the arteries.
“This is a known fact. When you start looking this stuff up, you’ll see,” he said.
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