Wellness Dentistry at Loveland Family Dentistry
At Loveland
Family Dentistry we recognize that oral health and general health are
connected. Oral disease can have a huge
impact on your systemic health. The old model of treating body parts in
isolation is flawed. Body parts and
organ systems are connected via the bloodstream, the lymphatic system, the
endocrine system, the gastrointestinal system, the nervous system and the
immune system. To say that what happens
in one part of the body does not affect the rest does not make sense.
There is compelling research which suggests
that gum disease is linked to as many as 57 different health issues, including
heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and dementia. Physicians know this and they know that oral
disease impacts their care and their patient outcomes.
Oral-systemic
health plays a key role in large part due to the role of bio-films in the
mouth.
A bio-film
is a community of bacteria which is covered in protective sticky goo. Oral bio-film is a dental disease, but when
these bacteria enter the connective tissue or the blood stream they can
increase the risk for systemic disease.
Consider
this:
*A drop of
saliva the size of a nickel has more bacteria (over 8 billion) than there are
people on the planet
*Over 500
good bacteria have been identified
*Yet there
are 8-12 types of bad bacteria which are destructive forces of gum disease and
systemic inflammation.
In our
practice, Dr. Krause is always looking at the mouth as an opportunity to predict
and preempt systemic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, oral cancer,
chronic systemic inflammation and more.
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