you have the more advanced form of periodontal disease.
. .. When the gums are raw and bleed easily, gingivitis is easy to diagnose, but dentists correctly warn that gum disease can also sneak up silently while still causing lots of low-level damage, so whether you have symptoms or not, regular dental check-ups are a must.
. .. If allowed to fester, periodontal disease not only destroys gum tissue, it also destroys the tissues that keep teeth in place, and even destroys the bone where teeth are implanted, so the end result of untended chronic periodontal disease is the look of someone who’s been playing hockey – NHL style – too long: gaps where teeth should be (think of Bobby Clarke in that famous photo smiling like he’d just done something really nasty to the other team, which he had, of course, with holes all around his smile).
. .. Who’s most at risk for gum disease (besides those who don’t take care of their dental health)? Smokers, naturally, as well as diabetics, people on certain medications, those dealing with certain chronic illnesses (HIV/AIDS, cancer), and my group – people with a genetic tendency for bad gums (a dentist once “joked” to me that “Your teeth are perfect, Art, but I have to remove your gums” after which he chuckled non-stop throughout the rest of my examination; see why I don’t think you can be good friends with dentists?)
. .. But the main point of this article is that there’s way more at stake with gum disease than some simple cosmetic upgrading and perhaps some eventual tooth loss, because as I wrote earlier, chronic gum disease has been linked with a great number of poor health outcomes, including a significantly higher risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke, as well as respiratory problems, poor diabetes control, even miscarriage and other problems in pregnancy.
. .. And the list just keep growing, so that a recent study published in the American Journal of Kidney Disease concluded that people with periodontal disease are twice as likely to have kidney problems as those with healthy gums, a finding that is quite troubling because the rate of kidney disease, which far too often ends with the need for dialysis and/or a kidney transplant, is increasing quickly, and that has terrific implications for costs in the health care system.
. .. Clearly, a big question is why gum disease would be linked with cardiovascular disease and other major health problems.
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