The health of your teeth and gums is something I’ve spoken about often over the years. In particular, bacteria in the mouth can get into your bloodstream through your gums, where it contributes to all sorts of health issues. Heart disease, stroke, joint pain and dementia are at the top of the list.
What I really haven’t touch upon is how your oral health might affect your risk of pneumonia.
With most of the country experiencing colder than normal temperatures right now, this is an important topic of discussion.
That’s because, when the weather is frigid, we tend to huddle indoors where we are in close proximity with other folks.
This creates the perfect breeding ground for the spread of anything that’s contagious, including pneumonia. Everything you touch and anybody you have close contact with – or who coughs or sneezes near you – can put you at risk of catching it.
But surprisingly, with regular dental care, you can actually slash your risk of pneumonia by about 86%.
It Sounds Crazy, But It’s True!
As it turns out, people who don’t go to their dentist for regular check-ups are 86% more likely to develop pneumonia than those who regularly get checked out twice a year.
Part of the reason for this may be due to the fact that staphylococcus, the bacteria associated with pneumococcal pneumonia (the most common type of pneumonia) is normally found in the oral cavity.
Without regular dental care, it is left to flourish and weakens the body’s immune system.
Then, when exposed to larger quantities of these bacteria via close contact with someone who is already infected, it becomes much harder for your body to fight off the respiratory attack, and you end up with a case pneumonia.
But that’s not the end of the story.
Regular dental care could also prevent the number of hospital-acquired pneumonia cases – which account for about 60% of all hospital-acquired infections.
At least one preventive dental visit within the year before hospitalization reduces the risk of developing pneumonia by 10%. But getting dental care six months or less beforehand decreases the odds by 30%.
It even works in the critically ill… those who end up in ICU.
So if you are due for surgery soon or expect to make a hospital visit, make sure you get your teeth cleaned beforehand!
Dental Health and Taking Care of Our Elders
There is one more thing I would like to address.
It’s called aspiration pneumonia. This is something that happens when people have a neurological disorder like dementia. Stroke is a denominator. Or it could be as simple as old age.
Basically, swallowing ability is impaired, and foods or liquids are inadvertently inhaled into the lungs. Once there, these foreign particles cause our loved ones to develop pneumonia.
If this happens on a regular basis, “life” can start to feel more like “end-of-life.”
So I am very happy to say that a study released just a few months ago revealed a startling discovery. The research team found that something as simple as a professional tooth cleaning slashed the chance of recurring aspiration pneumonia by approximately 50%!
As far as I am concerned, this is a BIG WIN!
That is on top of every other thing good oral health can provide to you and your family. Each dental visit you make… every time you brush, floss and rinse… any time you use a water pic…
All of it will make a huge difference in your life, and in your health.
SOURCES:
Infectious Diseases Society of America. “Regular dental visits may help prevent pneumonia, study shows.” ScienceDaily. 2016.
Dong J, Li W, Wang Q, Chen J, Zu Y, Zhou X, Guo Q. Relationships Between Oral Microecosystem and Respiratory Diseases. Front Mol Biosci. 2022 Jan 4;8:718222.
Baker D, Giuliano KK, Thakkar-Samtani M, Scannapieco FA, Glick M, Restrepo MI, Heaton LJ, Frantsve-Hawley J. The association between accessing dental services and nonventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia among 2019 Medicaid beneficiaries. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2023 Jun;44(6):959-961.
Winning L, Lundy FT, Blackwood B, McAuley DF, El Karim I. Oral health care for the critically ill: a narrative review. Crit Care. 2021 Oct 1;25(1):353.
Miyagami T, Nishizaki Y, Imada R, Yamaguchi K, Nojima M, Kataoka K, Sakairi M, Aoki N, Furusaka T, Kushiro S, Yang KS, Morikawa T, Tohara H, Naito T. Dental Care to Reduce Aspiration Pneumonia Recurrence: A Prospective Cohort Study. Int Dent J. 2024 Aug;74(4):816-822.
