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It has been established that patients with diabetes -- especially uncontrolled diabetes -- have more gum disease than patients without diabetes. Now researchers are finding that gum disease may raise blood sugar levels in patients regardless of whether or not they have diabetes.

Gum disease -- one of the most common infections worldwide -- occurs when germs cause an infection in the gums around the teeth. In periodontitis, the more advanced and serious form of gum disease, the infection is long-lasting and over time causes the soft gums and bone around teeth to dissolve.

Compared with people who have healthy gums, patients that have severe gum disease

- have higher long-term blood sugar levels

- may be at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes

- may be at higher risk of developing pregnancy (gestational) diabetes

- have more difficulty controlling their existing type 2 diabetes

- have a greater risk of suffering injury to their eyes and kidneys or of a heart attack or stroke if they have diabetes

How does gum disease affect blood sugar levels? It seems that after normal activities such as chewing food or toothbrushing, some of the germs in infected gums escape into the bloodstream. These germs activate the body’s defense system which produces powerful molecules that have damaging effects throughout the body -- such as raising your blood sugar level.

For patients with type 2 diabetes, treatment of severe gum disease, such as with a deep cleaning, can lower blood sugar levels in a manner comparable to adding another drug to their usual diabetes medication.

It’s important to keep your gums as healthy as possible, regardless of whether or not you have diabetes, by brushing and flossing daily and having regular dental cleanings. For those who have type 2 diabetes, maintaining healthy gums may help you control your disease and lower your risk of complications from diabetes like blindness and kidney disease.

You can visit http://www.jacquesdentistry.com/gum-disease.php for more information about gum disease.

Maintaining a healthy mouth is an important part of your general well-being!

Think again!

You may have gone many years without any new cavities forming, but as adults get older, they enter another stage of their lives when they are more susceptible to dental decay. A common cause of cavities in older adults is dry mouth.

While dry mouth itself is not a symptom of old age, it is a side effect of over 500 different medications! These common medications treat such conditions as allergies, asthma, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, pain, anxiety, depression, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. Side effects such as dry mouth are just one of the many reasons why it’s very important to keep us updated on your current medications.

If you should suffer from medication-related dry mouth, we can discuss some recommendations for relieving your dry mouth and decreasing your risk of cavities. Some suggestions may include talking with your medical doctor about changing your medications, using over-the-counter salivary replacements or lubricants, increasing your water intake, and using sugar-free gum or lozenges to stimulate salivary flow.

And just be glad that you don't have as many teeth to brush as a shark does!

It's Shark Week on the Discovery Channel! In honor of this week dedicated to those toothy animals, we thought we'd share some teeth-related shark facts!

• Did you know that sharks have 48-50 rows of teeth? Sharks lose a tooth every other day, so they have back up rows of teeth ready to move into place whenever they lose a front tooth.
• Since they are constantly losing and growing teeth, they may have about 350 teeth in their mouth at any one time. Over their lifetime they will go through thousands of teeth.
• Since sharks don't have hands or flippers, their teeth are their tools for exploring the world around them. Luckily they have those back-up rows of teeth for when they lose one. Humans aren't so lucky, so quit using your teeth to open bottles or tear packages! Replacing that broken or chipped front tooth isn't as easy as it is for a shark!