A study claims that people who have poor oral hygiene have an increased risk of heart disease compared to those who brush their teeth twice a day.
If you don't brush your teeth twice a day, you're more likely to develop heart disease, according to a new study.
The study, published on BMJ.com, claims that people who have poor oral hygiene have an increased risk of heart disease compared to those who brush their teeth twice a day.
To reach the conclusion, researchers, led by professor Richard Watt from University College London, analysed data from over 11,000 adults who took part in the Scottish Healthy Survey.
The research team analysed data about lifestyle behaviours such as smoking, physical activity and oral health routines. In the study, the individuals were asked how often they visited the dentist (at least once every six months, every one to two years, or rarely/never) and how often they brushed their teeth (twice a day, once a day or less than once a day).
The results demonstrate that oral health behaviours were generally good with six out of ten of participants saying they visit the dentist every six months and seven out ten reporting that they brush their teeth twice a day.
Once the data were adjusted for established cardio risk factors such as social class, obesity, smoking and family history of heart disease, the researchers found that participants who reported less frequent toothbrushing had a 70% extra risk of heart disease compared to individuals who brushed their teeth twice a day, although the overall risk remained quite low.
Participants who had poor oral hygiene also tested positive for inflammatory markers such as the C-reactive protein and fibrinogen, the study found.
Professor Watt concludes: "our results confirmed and further strengthened the suggested association between oral hygiene and the risk of cardiovascular disease - furthermore inflammatory markers were significantly associated with a very simple measure of poor oral health behaviour".
He adds "future experimental studies will be needed to confirm whether the observed association between oral health behaviour and cardio vascular disease is in fact causal or merely a risk marker".
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