At our Seaside dental clinic, Dr. Santos knows that a patient’s teeth can provide a lot of information about their health, diet, age, and identity.
The health of a patient’s teeth can even give Dr. Santos clues about their overall health, including clues to health issues that don’t even originate in the mouth. Some serious issues like cardiovascular disease, respiratory infections, and diabetes have all been linked to poor oral health in studies. Now, researchers from the University of Michigan Medical and Dental School have discovered that inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, may also become exacerbated in patients with poor oral health.
The results of the study were published in the journal Cell.
The term IBD references two conditions, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Both of these conditions are hallmarked by inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. The exact cause of IBD is unknown, but the condition affects roughly three million adults in the U.S.
As part of the study, researchers noted a connection between an overgrowth of foreign bacterial species in the stomachs of patients with IBD. This type of bacteria is normally found in the mouth. This discovery prompted researchers to further explore whether oral disease can impact the severity of certain types of gastrointestinal diseases.
While the precise mechanism that enables an oral infection to contribute to the development of stomach ailments remains unclear, the findings of the study clearly showed that gum inflammation causes inflammation in the stomach to worsen.
Researchers discovered two pathways where oral bacteria worsened stomach inflammation. In the first pathway, severe gum disease created an imbalance in the mouth’s normally healthy microbiome that led to an increase of bacteria that causes gum inflammation. This same type of bacteria can then make its way to the stomach.
Gum disease leads to the increased presence of harmful oral bacteria in the mouth. When harmful bacteria build up, it can then be ingested and travel to the stomach. Once there, the bacteria can cause inflammation to develop in the stomach, reports the research team.
