If you are looking for dentistry services, it is a little known fact that you are statistically liable to have periodontitis or another form of gum disease. However, there is another predictor of gum disease that has only recently been discovered: obesity.

Marco Peres, a researcher at the University of Adelaide, recently presented the results of his groundbreaking research at the 94th Session and Exhibition, presented by the International Association for Dental Research. His study followed 539 Australians from birth until they reached the age of 31 years. Their overall health, dietary habits and body measurements were all recorded. They were given full periodontal examinations.

The findings indicated that obesity raised the likelihood of mild to moderate to severe gum disease across the board. Subjects were rated by their percentage of excess weight, with the results going “all over the board.”

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When you need an emergency dentist, we try to find out how you ended up with a dental emergency in the first place. Often, we find out that our emergency patients tend to drink a lot of sugary drinks and eat a lot of sugary treats. It is no secret that sugary drinks help cause tooth decay, plaque and gum disease, so this comes as no surprise.

Recently, a Greens Party senator, Senator Richard Di Natale, decided to take matters into his own hands by proposing a 20% tax on all sugary drinks. The proposal is just one of an entire suite of proposals by the Greens, including restrictions on advertising junk food, food tables that are more understandable and financial assistance that can help young people from poor families participate in exercise and sport.

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If you are one of those people who holds off on dental care until you need an emergency dentist, you may want to read this piece thoroughly and carefully. According to a US publication, the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, your state of oral health now is related to your cognitive well-being later in life.

While researchers caution that more research is needed to fully validate their conclusions, we feel it is more than worthwhile to make this information available to our readers and patients. The link between poor oral health and a plethora of medical problems is not really new. The world-renowned Mayo Clinic has found links between poor oral health and heart disease. For those who have HIV/AIDS or diabetes, oral health problems are even worse because of the body’s compromised ability to fight infection.

As the baby-boomer generation begins to segue into old age, more and more researchers are studying the links between oral health and cognition. Most researchers are now leaning towards a common inflammatory pathway as being the factor that allows poor oral health to affect cognition.

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