Do you remember cutting out construction paper hearts at school each February? Your scissors traced each half until a perfect heart fluttered onto your desk. You’d repeat this until you had enough hearts to glue on a mailbox filled with Valentine’s Day cards. After picking out the right card for each classmate, how did you […]

Your Mouth Holds the Key to Your Heart
Did you know a healthy mouth can make your heart happy? It’s true. Studies show people with periodontal disease often have heart disease, though it’s unknown whether one causes the other. Whatever the connection, knowing about gum disease can help keep you protected. In its early stages, called gingivitis, gum disease can cause bleeding, redness, […]

Show Your Teeth Some Love
Cardiovascular disease, the leading killer of men and women in the United States, contributes to 2,400 deaths each day. Periodontal disease, a chronic inflammatory disease that destroys bone and gum tissues that support the teeth affects nearly 75 percent of Americans and is the major cause of adult tooth loss. While the two diseases may […]

Healthy Aging Month: Poor Oral Hygiene May Increase Stroke Risk
September is Healthy Aging Month, so it’s the perfect time to take charge of your health. While you may know that a healthy mouth leads to a healthy body, the depth to which the mouth-body connection dives is deeper than we could have imagined. People might want to consider seeing a professional if they are […]

Dental Plaque Bacteria May Lead to Blood Clot Formation
Researchers have found another reason to keep us brushing and flossing our teeth: the same bacteria that causes dental plaque can enter the bloodstream and trigger blood clots that increase risk of heart disease. Scientists at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland found that bleeding gums provided streptococcus bacteria an escape route into the […]

Brush Your Teeth to Keep Your Heart Healthy
Did you know that one in every three Americans suffers from high blood pressure – more than 67 million people – according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)? In fact, 69% of people who have a first heart attack, 74% of people with chronic heart failure and 77% of those who have […]

Getting to the Heart of Oral Health
Did you know that the health of your mouth may be an indicator of your heart health? Recent studies have shown possible links between periodontal (gum) disease and heart disease. Researchers have found that people with gum disease are roughly twice as likely to have coronary artery disease. In the United States, heart disease is […]

Top Health Risks Affecting Americans’ Oral Health
Do you ever have those days when you feel like a well-oiled machine—healthy and moving at your best possible speed? And then there are the days when one part feels less than optimal, even halting to a painful grind. It’s true: Your body is a connected machine, and when it comes to keeping your overall […]

Put Your Heart Into Oral Health Care
What do Cupid and gum disease have in common? Both get hearts pounding – but in very different ways! The mythical winged matchmaker is known to link lovers, while recent research shows a link between gum disease and heart disease. In fact, having gum disease roughly doubles the risk that a person will also suffer […]