PERIODONTAL GUM DISEASE AND HEART ATTACKS

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Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

At the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in New Orleans, Dr. Efthymios Deliargyris of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reported that heart attack patients are at very high risk for having periodontal disease characterized by infections in the gums, bones and teeth.

Eighty-five percent of heart attack patients had periodontal disease, while only 29 percent of healthy people have it. Other studies show that heart attack patients also have very high blood levels of C reactive protein, a chemical that rises when a person has an infection. People in this study who had the highest C reactive protein levels had the most severe periodontal disease.

More than 750 papers have associated chlamydia infections with heart attacks. Chlamydia causes horrible bleeding gums as well as red itchy eyes, terrible burning on urination, a horrible pneumonia, and many other symptoms. You don't need to be promiscuous to get chlamydia because you can get it when an infected person coughs in your face or you share a soda bottle. But you are at high risk for chlamydia when you have unprotected intercourse or share saliva, or any other body fluid.

If you have bleeding gums, go see your dentist. Besides his care, you and your partner should probably also take Zithromax, Biaxin, Dyanbec, doxycycline, minocycline, or a quinolone antibiotic.

Annual meeting of the American Heart Association in New Orleans, November 13, 2000

Checked 8/9/05