Community Oral Health

Keeping your teeth and gums healthy may lessen risks of:

• Heart Disease
• Respiratory Disease
• Diabetes
• Premature and Small Babies

	Heart Disease If you have gum (periodontal) disease, you may have a higher risk of heart disease. The germs that cause gum disease may also block arteries and lead to stroke.
	Respiratory Disease People with lung problems, weak immune systems, and elderly people are at higher risk of getting a lung infection from breathing in bacteria from the mouth.
	Diabetes Gum disease can make diabetes worse by making blood sugar harder to control. People with diabetes may have trouble getting gum disease to heal.
	Premature Deliveries Gum disease may be linked to risk of premature and low birth weight babies. Researchers are working hard to find out more about this connection.
	What you can do to prevent problems before they happen: Keep your mouth healthy Brush and floss teeth daily Visit your dentist regularly Eat a healthy balanced diet

For more information, contact the Community Oral Health Program by phone at: (403) 228-3384 (22-teeth) or email: community.dental@calgaryhealthregion.ca

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Research suggests that the bacteria involved in gum disease can influence our general health in a variety of ways:

* Studies in humans and animals have linked oral infection to pre-term low birth-weight babies [1, 2]. One study suggested that women with severe gum disease had more than seven times the risk of pre-term low birth-weight deliveries [3].

* Other studies have found a link between periodontal disease and heart disease [4, 5, 6]. A national study of Canadians aged 36 – 69 years found that people with severe gum disease had between three and seven times the risk of fatal heart disease [7]

* Gum infections have also been linked to stroke [8], chronic respiratory disease [9, 10] and aspiration pneumonia (the type of pneumonia that develops when people breath food or other contents from the mouth down into the lungs) [11] – particularly in the institutionalized elderly [12].

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