A new study shows that the elderly who keep their mouths clean have a lower risk of heart disease and stroke than their peers who don't pay much attention to oral hygiene.
The study involved nearly 22,000 adults over the age of 50 in Taiwan Province Province, and found that people who had professional tooth cleaning in the past year were less likely to have a heart attack or stroke in the next seven years.
Commonly known as "tooth washing", the medical term is "scale", which can eliminate dental plaque. Because it is easy to accumulate food residue and plaque near the gum boundary on the teeth. It is a good place for bacteria to grow and multiply, and it is closed and difficult to clean, which often leads to gum inflammation and periodontal disease.
This new discovery was published in the American medical journal, although it failed to prove that professional tooth cleaning can reduce the risk of heart disease. However, Dr. Zu-Chen Yin, from the Department of Cardiology, Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan Province, said that this study is consistent with previous studies, and gum disease increases the risk of heart disease.
Researchers believe that gum disease is caused by bacterial infection, which may spread to other parts to cause chronic infection and inflammation, leading to heart attack and stroke. Dr. Chen believes that treating gum diseases can reduce the level of inflammatory substances in the blood.
In this study, about half of the people have had professional tooth cleaning in the past year, while the rest have not. In the next 7 years, 1.6% volunteers in the tooth cleaning group had a heart attack and 8.9% had a stroke. In the control group, 2.2% had a heart attack and 10% had a stroke.
The researchers considered other factors, such as whether the volunteers suffered from chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension or kidney disease. After excluding these factors, it is found that professional tooth washing can reduce the risk of heart disease by 365,438+0% and stroke by 65,438+05%. During the follow-up, the researchers also found that those who have professional tooth cleaning more than once every two years also have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. But the researchers did not consider other factors that might affect the risk of heart attack and stroke, such as weight, smoking habits, eating habits and family history.
In view of the above results, Dr. Chen pointed out that bad oral hygiene habits are harmful to our health, and we should take care of our teeth from now on.